The University of Connecticut swimming and diving team heads to Lewisburg, Pennsylvania for the Bucknell Invitational this weekend. The invitational, Nov. 19 to Nov. 21, will also be attended by Davidson, Fordham, La Salle, Rider, Towson and of course, host Bucknell.
UConn is coming off a tough loss against the Yale Bulldogs, in which the final tally came to 201-91. There were yet some bright spots for the women: freshman Julia Pioso took the top spot on the podium in the three-meter dive and settled for fifth in the one-meter, while freshman Maggie Donlevy, junior Charlotte Proceller, junior Mia Galat and sophomore Melissa Lowry combined their efforts to finish first in the 400-yard freestyle relay.
Of the seven schools represented, Bucknell really shines, entering the invitational at 5-1 on the season and 4-1 in Patriot League conference play. Prior to their loss to Navy on Nov. 6, they had an 11-meet winning streak. Suffice to say, this is Bucknell’s meet to lose.
The Atlantic 10 conference is represented quite a bit at this meet in the form of three schools: La Salle University, Davidson University and Fordham University. Fordham is the most impressive of the three, posting a 4-0 record thus far in the young season, with all their margins of victory being large. Davidson follows at a formidable 3-1 record. La Salle winds up last with a 2-2 record.
The dual Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and Eastern College Athletic Conference is represented at the conference by Rider University. The team enters with an unfortunate 0-5 record, with none of their matches being particularly close in score. Their latest loss came by way of the aforementioned La Salle Explorers, who crushed the Rider Broncs 194.5-83.5. Their hopes for this meet should be to come out of this weekend with something to smile about, at the very least.
The lone team from the Colonial Athletic Association is Towson University. They have started the season 2-3, with all of their losses coming against non-conference opponents on the road. Their most recent meet ended in a nailbiter, with the University of Maryland Baltimore County just edging them out, 151-148. Towson likely comes into this one with the hopes of righting the ship and coming out of this meet on top.
UConn finds themselves among favorable competition heading into the weekend. While the expectation may not be for them to take the whole meet, the Huskies look to land somewhere on the podium. With the promise of a Thanksgiving reprieve afterwards, perhaps the team will have the extra motivation to perform this weekend.
