The swimming and diving teams battled hard at last weekend’s Patriot League Championships with plenty of hardware to show for their efforts. Senior captains Greg Dunlavey and Dave Hill earned All-Patriot League second-team honors after leading the men’s team to its’ highest finish in three years, placing fifth with 285 total points. Dunlavey’s performance at the championships included breaking his own 100 backstroke record three times. Hill’s strong showing was in the individual medley events. The tri-captain finished sixth in the 400 individual medley and seventh in the 200 individual medley.

The women’s team came back from Lewisburg after putting seven team members on All-Patriot League teams while placing third overall with 598 points.

Four super-sophmores and a slew of first-years were rewarded with All-League honors. Sophomore Ashley Bottger earned first team honors for placing second in the 100 freestyle and fourth in the 50 free. Sophomore Lisa Marchi earned All-Patriot League first team honors for the second year in a row, recording a third place finish in the 100 freestyle. She also earned two fourth-place finishes in the 200 and 500 freestyle events. Sophomore Beverly Walker also made the league’s first team for the second year in a row. Walkewon Colgate’s lone gold medal of the weekend, placing first in the 100 backstroke. She also had two third place finishes in the 200 backstroke and the 100 fly. First-year swimmer Kate Murphy earned first team accolades for her performances in the 200 and 100 fly events, finishing as runner-up in both. She also finished fifth in the 500 freestyle. Sophomore Emily Murphy and first-years Karen Baker and Caitlin Curran all earned a spot on the All-Patriot League second team.

Colgate’s perennially powerful diving teams didn’t depart from Bucknell University without leaving their marks. Even though the program didn’t tear up the meet like in years past, Colgate diving coach Matt Leone was still beaming from both of his team’s performances.

“While we are in a rebuilding year, I was impressed with all of our divers,” Leone said. “Many set personal bests, and we see only the best for our future.”

Among those Leone mentioned were senior Gretchen Swarr and first-year Heather Friedman on the women’s side and sophomore Stephen Haskin and first-year Joe McGovern on the men’s side. Swarr finished fifth in 1m diving and eighth in 3m diving. Friedman was a semi-finalist in both the 1m and 3m events. Haskin placed seventh in both the 1m and 3m for the men, while first-time diver Joe McGovern (his first-ever dive was in December) was a semi-finalist in both the 1m and 3m dives.