Swimming and Diving

Bucknell's Segar and Popple Earn Weekly Swimming and Diving Awards from Patriot League

Dec. 6, 2010

LEWISBURG, Pa. - Two members of Bucknell's swimming and diving teams were honored on Monday for their performances this past weekend against La Salle. Junior Matthew Segar (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) was named the Patriot League Male Swimmer of the Week, while junior Morgan Popple (Bear Creek, Pa./James M. Coughlin) earned Patriot League Female Diver of the Week honors.

Segar, who was honored by the Patriot League for the first time in his career, was the only double-winner for the Bison men in their 150-144 loss to La Salle Saturday at Kinney Natatorium as he claimed first place in both the 200- and 500-yard freestyle events. He also swam the first leg of the 400 free relay that finished second in the final, and deciding, race of the day. The relay finished the distance in 3 minutes, 7.78 seconds with Segar timing in at 47.23 on the first leg.

Segar was especially impressive in the 200 free on Saturday, posting a season-best time of 1:40.64, 4.08 seconds ahead of the runner-up from La Salle. His time in the 500 free was 4:41.23.

While Segar did not break into any Bucknell all-time top-10 lists over the weekend, he does rank among the Bison all-time leaders in the 200 free (2nd), 500 free (2nd), 1,000 free (5th) and 1,650 free (4th).

Popple, who helped the Bison women to a 198-102 victory over La Salle, also earned her first career Patriot League honor as she posted the fourth-best mark in program history off the one-meter diving board. Her score of 242.78 placed her second in Saturday's meet and improved upon her previous personal best by 18 points and moved her from eighth to fourth on the program's all-time list.

Popple also competed in three-meter diving and posted a score of 209.10, her second-highest mark of the season. Earlier this year she recorded the fifth-best mark in program annals.

Four different Bison have now won Patriot League weekly awards this year. Men's swimmer Mike Nicholson and men's diver David Magaro were cited Nov. 15 for performances against Colgate.

Both Bison swimming and diving teams are now idle until a Jan. 15 meet against Patriot League opponent Army at Kinney Natatorium.