Dec. 5, 2011
CENTER VALLEY, Pa. -- The Patriot League announced its weekly awards for Nov. 26-Dec. 4 in indoor track & field and swimming & diving Monday.
The indoor track and field opened over the weekend with several teams in action, but it was the Bucknell Bison who walked away with four of six weekly awards, as Dave Brown, Tom Barr, Christian Lupica and Jessica Matsinger all won awards. Navy's Brigid Byrne and Lehigh's E'Lana Lemon also won weekly awards.
Action picked up in swimming and diving, with six of the eight schools engaging in some kind of competition last week. Bucknell senior Matthew Segar qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials in the 200-meter freestyle while competing at the U.S. Winter Nationals in Atlanta while collecting a pair of first-place showings in a dual-meet victory against La Salle. Army performed very well at the Big Al Diving Invitational in Princeton, N.J., and won the Zippy Invitational in Akron, Ohio, and collected a pair of weekly awards. The Black Knights are riding high entering Thursday's annual dual meet against rival Navy. Elsewhere, American swept a dual from Howard and Holy Cross competed at the Harold Anderson Invitational hosted by Rhode Island.
Patriot League Indoor Track and Field Weekly Awards
MALE TRACK ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
DAVE BROWN, BUCKNELL Sr., Westborough, Mass.
Brown finished first in the 5,000-meter run at the Bison Opener, completing the race in 14:36.62, which bested an IC4A-qualifying mark.
FEMALE TRACK ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
BRIGID BYRNE, NAVY Jr., Vienna, Va.
Byrne placed first in the 5,000-meter run at the Navy Lidlifter, finishing with an ECAC-qualifying time of 17:06.17. It was a new personal record for Byrne.
MALE FIELD ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
TOM BARR, BUCKNELL Sr., Ambler, Pa.
Barr collected a pair of IC4A-qualifying marks in the weight throw (59-6.25) and the shot put (52-5.5). Barr finished first in both of the events at the Bison Opener.
FEMALE FIELD ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
E'LANA LEMON, LEHIGH Jr., West Orange, N.J.
Lemon finished first in the weight throw at the Lehigh Season Opener with an ECAC-qualifying distance of 57-7. She has won five Field Athlete of the Week awards in her career.
MALE ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
CHRISTIAN LUPICA, BUCKNELL Fr., Newtown, Pa.
Lupica placed fifth in the 60-meter hurdles (8.38) and 23rd in the 400 (53.28) at the Bison Opener to lead the Bucknell freshmen. He also helped the 1,600 relay team place ninth (3:28.24).
FEMALE ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
JESSICA MATSINGER, BUCKNELL Fr., Frazer, Pa.
Matsinger placed second in the triple jump at the Bison Opener with a distance of 36-7.5.
HONORABLE MENTION
DOMINIC DELLA PELLE, NAVY Sr., Kennett Square, Pa.
Della Pelle placed first in the 3,000-meter run at the Navy Invitational with a time of 8:22.25, qualifying for the IC4A Championships. He edged out three runners from Georgetown in the unscored invitational.
CHRISTOPHER RICKS, NAVY Sr., Reynoldsburg, Ohio
Ricks collected an IC4A-qualifying distance of 58-4.5 in his first-place weight throw at the Navy Invitational.
STEPHEN TUTUNJIAN, LEHIGH Sr., Shrewsbury, Mass.
Tutunjian met an IC4A-qualifying mark with his first-place jump in the triple jump (47-9.25). He also placed first in the long jump with a distance of 22-7.
Patriot League Swimming and Diving Weekly Awards
MALE SWIMMER OF THE WEEK
MATTHEW SEGAR, BUCKNELL Sr., Carmel, Ind.
Segar began his busy week as one of three Bison to swim at the U.S. Winter Nationals and was the only one to advance to a final. He clocked a time of 1:52.24 in the preliminaries of the 200-meter freestyle to qualify for the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials. He advanced to the finals in the event and took 29th when he touched the wall in 1:53.61. Segar also competed for Bucknell in its 171-127 victory over La Salle and captured a pair of first-place finishes, taking the 200- and 500-yard freestyle victories. He was one of three Bison to post multiple wins versus the Explorers.
FEMALE SWIMMER OF THE WEEK
LEAH BREEN, AMERICAN Sr., Irvine, Calif.
Breen was instrumental in American's 117-75 victory in a dual against city-rival Howard. She competed in three individual events and won them all en route to the Eagles' 42-point triumph. She clocked a 25.31 to win the 50-yard free and touched the wall in 53.45 to win the 100 free. Breen added a win in the 200 free in 2:00.33 to complete the trifecta.
MALE DIVER OF THE WEEK
CHRIS NGUYEN, ARMY Jr., Cheshire, Conn.
Nguyen posted high scores this week and helped the Black Knights put forth an impressive showing at the Big Al Diving Invitational hosted by Princeton University. The junior out of Cheshire, Conn., posted a fourth-place showing with another NCAA Zone-qualifying score of 303.20 from the one-meter board and followed it up with 296.55 points in the three-meter competition for fifth place.
FEMALE DIVER OF THE WEEK
MELISSA PARKER, AMERICAN Fr., Livermore, Calif.
Parker continued with her very impressive freshman campaign. After setting school records in both the one- and three-meter dives earlier this year, the rookie out of Livermore, Calif., recorded a new personal best, set another school record and qualified for the NCAA Zones in March with a first-place score of 283.05 in the dual-meet victory against Howard. Parker completed the sweep against the Bison with a 228.90 to win the one-meter competition as well.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
AYMAN ANDREWS, ARMY Jr., Sussex, N.J.
Andrews added his name to the list of Patriot League swimmers with NCAA B-cut times so far in 2011-12. He won the 100 fly at the Zippy Invitational in 48.38, but this 48.32 clocking in the prelims is what exceeded the B-cut and set an Academy record. He won the 200 fly in 1:50.27 and was part of a pair of second-place relay squads in Army's win at the invitational.
MATT WURM, AMERICAN So., Sudbury, Mass.
Wurm won the 100 and 200 freestyles, helping to lead the Eagles to a 137-65 dual-meet win over Howard.
ELIZABETH PORCELLIO, BUCKNELL Jr., Fairport, N.Y.
Porcellio won the 200 IM and collected a pair of runner-up finishes in Bucknell's dual meet against La Salle. Her 2:25.05 clocking in the 200 breast was a season best, along with her 1:57.35 in a winning effort in the 200 free.