LINK TO COMPLETE RESULTS
Lewisburg, PA…The College of New Jersey’s men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams opened action on Saturday at the Bucknell University Invitational. The two-day event will wrap on Sunday. TCNJ’s swimmers set school records on the day in two events.
Women - Team Scores
Place School Points
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1 Towson University 532
2 James Madison University 356
3 La Salle University 335
4 Bucknell University 306
5 Binghamton University 148
6 The College of New Jersey 67
Men - Team Scores
Place School Points
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1 Bucknell University 498
2 Binghamton University 372.5
3 La Salle University 346.5
4 The College of New Jersey 272
5 Towson University 251
Women’s Highlights
Freshman Leah Varvaro (Egg Harbor Township, NJ/Egg Harbor Township) etched her name in TCNJ’s
Leah Varvaro tied a school record at Bucknell meet.
record book on Saturday as the rookie tied TCNJ’s school record in the 100 backstroke after recording a time of 1:00.01 and finished in 7th place. She tied the mark set in 1995 by Melissa Kolar in the event.
Adding to the Lions’ opening day success was the performance in the 50 freestyle by rookie Traci Hofer (Millville, NJ/Millville) picked up third place in the race with an NCAA Division III provisional time of 24.09.
In the 100 breaststroke, sophomore Katie Morgan (Westfield, NJ/Westfield) took 12th place with her performance of 1:07.45, which she posted in the trials and a finals time of 1:08.66.
TCNJ took 8th place in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:39.56 as freshman Laura Pierce (Cherry Hill, NJ/Cherry Hill West), junior Ashley Robb (Blackwood, NJ/Gloucester Catholic), Varvaro and Hofer combined.
Rookie Melissa Hessler (Palmyra, NJ/Palmyra) added a 14th place showing in the 1650 freestyle in 18:37.13, while Hofer picked up a third in the 50 freestyle in 24.09, while Pierce took 10th in the race in 25.05.
Men’s Highlights
Rookie Mike Vernoia (Hillsborough, NJ/Hillsborough) won the 200 freestyle race in 1:40.68 to write his name into TCNJ’s record books. He bettered the school mark set in 2008 by Josh Forsman (1:41.78). Senior Mike Molloy (Toms River, NJ/Toms River East) posted a time of 1:44.17 to take fourth place in the race.
TCNJ’s junior Myles O’Connor (Santa Monica, CA) won the 100 breaststroke in 56.68, just one second off the Lions’ school record time he set a year ago. Senior tri-captain Ted Yoa (Ocean City, NJ/St. Augustine) took seventh in the race in 59.91.
Sophomore Tom Medvecky (Piscataway, NJ/Piscataway) took second in the 200 butterfly in 1:52.83, just hundredth off the school mark in the event.
Senior Tom Nawrot (East Brunswick, NJ/East Brunswick) took third in the 100 backstroke in 52.46, while adding a fifth in the 50 freestyle in 21.47. Rookie Ryan Clark (Ocean City, NJ/St. Augustine) took 8th place in the 50 freestyle in 21.73, while sophomore Shawn Kircher (Toms River, NJ/Toms River North) was behind him in 9th in 21.79.
Sophomore Tim Rauch (Hillsborough, NJ/Hillsborough) added a 7th place finish in the 1650 freestyle in 16:45.98, while sophomore Peter Goldsmith (Easton, PA/Easton Area) captured 13th in the race in 17:13.61.
In the 200 individual medley, as senior tri-captain Mike Heaney (Voorhees, NJ/Bishop Eustace) picked up 13th in 1:59.33, while sophomore Joe Tseng (East Hanover, NJ/Hanover Park) was right behind him in 14th in 1:59.47 and Clark added a 16th in 2:02.22.
In the one meter diving event, freshman TJ Burns (Clarks Summit, PA/Abington Heights) took seventh with a performance of 230.70.
In the 400 medley relay, the Lions added a fourth place finish in 3:29.55 behind the work of Nawrot, O’Connor, Medvecky, and Kircher.
In the 200 freestyle relay, the Lions took seventh in 1:27.92 as Molloy, Goldsmiith, Rauch and sophomore Aaron Moskovich (East Brunswick, NJ/East Brunswick) added a strong showing.