PITTSBURGH - The Duquesne swimming and diving team hits the pool for the first time in 2022 with a road matchup at Buffalo on Saturday, Jan. 8 at 1 p.m. at the Alumni Arena Natatorium. The meet is set to stream live on YouTube starting at 12:50 p.m. with two separate streams, one for the swimming pool and another for the diving well. 

The Dukes and Bulls both recently returned from their respective winter training trips to Florida, with Duquesne traveling to Pompano Beach and Buffalo heading to Fort Lauderdale. 

The Dukes return to action as a team for the first time since the Magnus Cup hosted by Cleveland State, where Duquesne posted a third-place finish. Graduate transfer Mendy De Rooi shattered school records in the 50 free, 100 free and 100 fly to lead the Dukes. She broke the meet and school record in the 50 free with a time of 22.68, topping the Duquesne record set by Gabrielle Sibilia on Feb. 18, 2016 as well as the Magnus Cup mark of 22.86 set by Akron's Sadie Fazekas in 2016.  

She also snapped Sam Ray's 100 free school-record time of 49.47 set on Feb. 20, 2016, finishing second in the event. Her time would have also set a new meet record.

De Rooi added a school-record showing in the 100 fly (53.42) for Duquesne, shattering Audrey Steen's mark of 54.40 set on April 16 of this year and good for third place at the meet.

Emma Menzer registered a first-place finish for the Dukes at the Magnus Cup, pacing the 400 IM with a time of 4:20.87 for Duquesne.

Sidney O'Donnell led the Duquesne divers with a second-place performance in the 3-meter dive with a score of 273.75 before posting a third-place finish in the 1-meter dive with a mark of 252.00. 

De Rooi shattered a pair of long course meters program records while Haley Scholer set another as the Duquesne duo along with Audrey Steen competed at the Toyota U.S. Open in Greensboro, N.C. in December. De Rooi set a new program-best mark in the 50-meter freestyle of 26.10 in the prelims to start the event for the Dukes.

She followed that up by becoming the first Duquesne swimmer to advance to the "A" final in an event, placing seventh in the 100-meter butterfly with a school-record time of 1:01.06. The Netherlands native recorded a seventh-place finish in the finals at 1:01.47. 

Scholer shattered the school record in the 100-meter backstroke with a time of 1:03.47, good for a 12th-place finish in the event

SCOUTING THE BULLS
Buffalo is coming off a third-place finish at the Zippy Invite hosted by Akron in December. The Bulls set a new school record in the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 3:16.95 along with Jillian Lawton breaking the school record in the 100 butterfly (53.40).

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS 
200 Medley Relay
1000 Free
200 Free
100 Back
100 Breast
200 Fly
50 Free
Diving
100 Free
200 Back
200 Breast
500 Free
Diving
100 Fly
200 IM
200 Free Relay

NEXT UP 
Duquesne is slated to host Marshall on Saturday, Jan. 15 for senior day at Towers Pool.