Friday Results
Team Scores

LEWISBURG, Pa. (2/16/07) – The Colgate women’s swimming and diving team climbed to third place by the end of the first day of competition at the 2007 Patriot League Championship at Bucknell University. The Raiders earned 147 points on Friday, Feb. 16, just 13 points behind the four-time defending champion Bison and 51 points behind leader Navy.

Colgate opened the meet by finishing second in the 200 free relay in its second-best time of the season, 1:34.92. The quartet of sophomores Ashley Bottger (Weston, Conn.), Beverly Walker (Marietta, Ga.), Lisa Marchi (Scottsdale, Ariz.), and Emily Murphy (Syracuse, N.Y.) were just 0.72 seconds behind the foursome from Navy, which won the race in a time that was just 0.05 seconds off the league-record pace set by the Raiders last season. Colgate’s time ranks third on the school’s all-time performances list.

After recording the sixth-fastest 50 free time in school history with a split of 23.93 in the lead-off leg of the 200 free relay, Bottger topped herself by swimming a 23.88 in the preliminaries. It is a personal-best time, and ranks fourth on the all-time performances list; Bottger now ranks second on the all-timer performers ledger. In addition, freshman Sarah Sciarrino (Buffalo, N.Y.) earned a spot on the performers list at ninth with her sixth-place finish and time of 24.48. Fellow rookie Kim Siembieda (Narberth, Pa.) was right behind her in seventh with a time of 24.56.

The Raiders rearranged the school’s top-10 times list in the 500 free by adding four new entries to the chart. Marchi’s fourth-place time of 5:00.33 is the second-fastest in Colgate history, while her preliminary time of 5:01.51 ranks fifth. Freshman Kate Murphy (Williamsburg, Va.) posted a time of 5:01.87 to finish fifth in the race and sixth on the performances ledger, while her preliminary time of 5:04.87 ranks eighth all-time. In addition, freshman Karen Baker (Houston, Texas) etched her name onto the all-time performers list at No. 7 with a preliminary time of 5:07.03; she came in sixth in the final race, just 0.02 seconds off her morning swim.

Freshman Caitlin Curran (Alpharetta, Ga.) was Colgate’s top finisher in the 200 IM. She was fifth with a time of 2:08.82, and placed her name fourth on the school’s all-time performers list with a 2:08.72 in the prelim. Emily Murphy was sixth, posting a time of 2:09.27. In addition, junior Magdalena Mango (New York, N.Y.) swam a personal-best time of 2:12.75 in the morning session to earn the 10^th spot on the performers list. Freshman Caitlin Dwyer (Hicksville, N.Y.) also earned a personal-best time in the event, 2:13.31. Junior Kacy Reams (Evanston, Ill.) just missed making the final round with a preliminary time of 2:12.53, finishing 17^th in the trials.

After sweeping all five relay events at last year’s meet, the Raiders were disappointed with a disqualification in the 400 medley relay. Colgate was called for a false start between the breaststroke and butterfly legs of the relay. The team can take small consolation in the fact that they finished in the second-best time of the race.

Colgate will try to catch up to the leaders when competition continues on Saturday. Preliminary events begin at 10:30 a.m., and finals start at 6:00 p.m.