Swimming smashes nine school records at Patriot League Championships

Marta Considine, Staff Writer

The Bison hosted the Patriot League Championships at Kinney Natatorium on Feb. 15–18.

They started the meet strong on Feb. 15, with both the men and the women breaking the school records in the 200 medley relay. Julie Byrne ’19, Libby O’Hare ’20, Julianna Foss ’18, and Rachel Perry ’17 finished in third place with a time of 1:42.56, narrowly beating the previous record by .05 seconds. The men’s relay, consisting of Chris Devlin ’18, Chadd Cummings ’19, James Elmendorf ’19, and Charlie McFarland ’19 finished in second place behind Army with a time of 1:29.52.

The Orange and Blue continued this momentum into the second day of Patriots, where the women and men would set four more school records. The 400 medley relay consisting of Emma Hadley ’20, Leah Bloodgood ’18, Foss, and Abigail Rosenberg ’19 finished third with a time of 3:43.66. Devlin took part in all three of the men’s records broken. He finished third in the 200 individual medley, 1.07 seconds faster than the NCAA B cut. The men’s 400 medley relay finished fourth with a time of  3:18.27, shaving .25 seconds off the previous record. In this event, Devlin broke his own 100 back record while leading off the relay with a time of 48.23, only to break it again the next day.

On Feb. 17, Foss broke her own school record in the 100 fly with a time of 54.69, just shy of the NCAA B Cut. Other standout performances include Hadley, who finished second in the 100 backstroke with a NCAA B cut and Diana Hanson ’17, O’Hare, Bloodgood, and Mary Weinstein ’19 all finished top 10 in the 100 breaststroke.

“I was really proud of how I swam individually. Finally going a 54 in the 100 fly was something I’ve been trying to accomplish since senior year of high school. I was also really proud of how our relays did, breaking the school record. It was an awesome experience. We are all really excited to finish out the season at ECACs,” Foss said.

On the fourth and final day of Patriots, the Bison set two more school records.  Rosenberg broke the 100 free record twice that day, once in prelims and again in finals, finishing third overall. Perry and Brittany Bishop ’19 also placed in the 100 free, finishing 10th and 14th. Rosenberg, Perry, Bishop, and Caroline Edelman ’18 all were members of the 400 free relay which broke the school record with a time of 3:24.61. Other standouts on Feb. 18 included Hadley, Byrne, and Steph Boyd ’19, who all finished top 10 in the 200 backstroke.

Devlin was named Male Swimmer of the Meet for the second year in a row, leading the Bison to a fourth place finish. The women finished fifth. The Orange and Blue have a two week hiatus before gearing up for ECAC Championships in Annapolis, Md. March 3–5.

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