Lehighsports.com

Lewisburg, PA – The 2005 Patriot League swimming and diving championships wrapped up Saturday at Bucknell University’s Kinney Natatorium. The Mountain Hawks put forth a strong effort as the Lehigh men utilized a successful final day to vault back to a third place finish, while the women swam well and placed fifth.

Lehigh picked up its third gold medal in as many days as Jonathan Kearney led a Lehigh 1-2 finish in the 1650 yard freestyle, winning with a time of 15:49.61, almost 12 second ahead of the second place finisher, teammate Chris Caywood. Ross Green, a day after winning the 100 yard butterfly placed third in the 200 yard fly with a time of 1:51.06. Green teamed with Joey Beagen, Jess Dudley and Sean Herman to take second in the 400 yard free relay.

On the women’s side Lehigh equaled some performances from Friday. Sophomore Julie Mitchell placed second in the 200 yard backstroke with a time of 2:04.09 while teammate Linda Hendrixson picked up her third, third place finish of the championships, doing so in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 222.79. Betsy Balauger wrapped up a strong championships with a fifth place finish in the 1650 yard freestyle.

Complete results are available via the link above.

Both of last year’s winners repeated as the Bucknell women and Navy men claimed the team championships. American’s Megan Thiel and Navy’s Aubra Thomas shared outstanding female swimmer honors. Army’s Chelsea Haviland was named outstanding female diver. On the men’s side American’s Val Fomenko was the outstanding swimmer and Kevin Teague was named outstanding diver.

Lehigh took home three first place finishes. Kearney’s win in the 1650 yard freestyle, Green’s victory in the 100 yard butterfly and The quartet of Tom Gilbert, Grant Flothmeier, Green and Jess Dudley swam to first place in the 400 yard medley relay.

Women’s Team Standings

School             Points

1. Bucknell        810

2. Navy             598

3. Army             446

4. Colgate         423

5. LEHIGH         398

6. Lafayette       387

7. American       317

8. Holy Cross    125

Men’s Team Standings

School             Points

1. Navy             822

2. Army             637

3. LEHIGH         559

4. Bucknell        533

5. American       324

6. Lafayette       241

7. Colgate         236

8. Holy Cross    94