Colgate’s men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams competed at the Nike Invitational at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio from Thursday, December 4 to Saturday, December 6. The women’s team placed third in the field of seven, while the men finished in last out of six teams.

During Day One on Thursday, Colgate placed two swimmers among the top 10 in the women’s 1650 free. Sophomore Caren Guyett achieved the third quickest time ever at Colgate en route to a fifth-place finish with a time of 17:07.58, just 1.5 seconds off her own school record. First-year Jenna Daly dropped 16 seconds off her career-best time to finish seventh with a final time of 17:16.92.

During day two, Colgate’s Sophomore Erin McGraw teamed up with first-year Emily Peck, and seniors Emily Murphy and Ashley Bottger to place third in the 200-free relay with a 1:35.25, the fifth-fastest performances in Colgate history. The Raiders’ “B” team of Caren Guyett, senior Bev Walker and junior Sarah Sciarrino finished with the eighth quickest time in the event with a time of 1:37.14. The lady Raiders entered the final day of competition in fourth overall with 348 points.

On the final day of competition, Colgate’s Ashley Bottger led three Raiders with top-10 finishes in the 100 free with a school-record 50.97 en route to a third place effort. The second record that fell came in the 400 free relay as Peck, Bottger, senior Lisa Marchi and McGraw touched in with a final time of 3:25.00, which was good for a second-place finish behind Kansas. The Jayhawks won the team title with 1319 points, while Kenyon was second at 870.5.

Sophomore Devon Healy, who has been named the Patriot League’s Male Swimmer of the Week twice this year, set a personal best in the 1650 and finished 10th among a field of 23 swimmers in the 1650 with a career-best mark of 16:15.99 on the first day of the competition. His previous best was a 16:22.50 at last year’s Patriot League Championships. First-year Casey Powers shaved over 20 seconds off his seasonal best with a 16th-place effort with a time of 16:42.30, while first-year Vince Hostoffer posted a new personal best by almost 11 seconds.

The Colgate men captured three top-10 finishes Friday. First-year Costas Hadjipateras achieved a personal best by swimming the third-fastest time in school history with a 1:53.65 in the 200 fly en route to a ninth-place finish. Sophomore Trevor Healy continued his success finishing ninth in the 400 IM with a time of 4:07.85. Colgate ended the weekend in sixth place with 218 points. Colgate posted two top 10 efforts-one from Sophomore Tucker Gniewek and the other from its 400 free relay. Kenyon won the Nike Invitational with 1437 points, edging UPenn by just 41.5.

Meanwhile, first-year phenom Erica Derlath shattered her own school and freshman record in the 1650 free at the 2008 Conoco Phillips U.S. Short Course Swimming Championships on Saturday, December 6 at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center. She took 24th in the 1650 free. Furthermore, she broke the freshman, school and Patriot League record in the 400 IM, taking 19th at that event. She was named the Patriot League Female Swimmer of the Week for her extraordinary efforts.

Colgate returns to the pool on January 10 when it squares off against Bucknell in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.