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American Men Lead At PL Swimming & Diving Championships
Four Patriot League Championship Marks Fall On Day One

View Thursday Final Results

Feb. 15, 2002

ANNAPOLIS, MD. -- The American men and the Bucknell women hold the Championship lead after the first day of competition at the 2002 Patriot League Swimming & Diving Championships, taking place at Navy’s Lejeune Hall through Saturday, February 16. Three Patriot League Championship meet records were set on the opening day, all by American swimmers.

Junior Mark Liscinsky toppled the 200-yd individual medley mark in the preliminaries and re-set the record in the final with a time of 1:48.59. The old record was 1:51.69, set in 1992 by Andrew Rutherfurd of Lafayette. Liscinsky’s time also qualifies him for the upcoming NCAA Championship.

Two relay meet records were set by the AU men’s and women’s 400-yd medley relay teams. The women touched the wall in 3:52.95, breaking Navy’s time from the 1999 Championship. The Eagles men posted a time of 3:22.36, edging the old mark of 3:22.49 held by the 1992 Lafayette squad.

The final record-setting performance came from American sophomore Ethan Bassett, who posted the meet mark of 4:28.91 in the preliminary round. The sophomore also had a strong performance in the final with a time of 4:30.85, which placed him on the top of the podium.

After the first day of competition, the American men are in first place with 220 points, and the women sit in third place with 153 points.

The 2002 Patriot League Championships will continue through Saturday, Feb. 16 in Lejeune Hall at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. Preliminary events will begin at 10:30 a.m. and finals will be held in the evenings starting at 6:00 p.m. Scoring will follow NCAA rues. A competitor may swim in a maximum of seven events of which no more than three may be individual events. Each team may have no more than 18 competitors in the meet.

Spectator tickets to the championship will be on sale at the door one hour prior to the beginning of the meet. There will be no advance sale of tickets. Visitors are not allowed to dirve on the Yard; tentative plans are for visitors to park at the Navy/Marine Corps Memorial Football Stadium to take a shuttle bus to Lejeune Hall.