Duquesne vs. Sint Francis
Saturday, Jan. 20, 2024 • 1:00 p.m.
Pittsburgh, Pa. • Towers Pool
 
Beyond The Breakers
- The Duquesne University swimming and diving team returns to Towers Pool for the first time this season when it hosts Saint Francis while celebrating Senior Day on Saturday, Jan. 20^th.

- The Dukes opened the spring portion of its schedule last week, traveling to Buffalo, N.Y. for a tri-meet against the Bulls and Marshall. Duquesne fell to the host on Friday, 206.50 – 159.50 before falling to Marshall on Saturday, 242-119.

- Graduate student Madeline Marks highlighted competition Saturday for the Dukes, securing a first-place finish in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:05.21. The 400-yard medley relay started things off in day two with Duquesne capturing the bronze. The team of Haley Scholer, Sydney Severini, Julia Sobun, and Lexi Sundgren registered a time of 3:54.45.

- The 1,000-yard freestyle followed as junior Orla Egan took the silver while posting a time of 10:34.11 as sophomore Aislinn Mooney touched the wall at 10:54.73. Egan also took part in the 200-yard IM where she registered a time of 2:11.11 to take fourth. Severini and Marks also competed in the event after carding times of 2:13.89 and 2:41.35.

- The Duquesne diving team also took part at Buffalo with sophomore Ashley Felitsky competing in the one-meeter and compiling a score of 231.15. Classmate Kendall Nigh also took part, posting a final score of 168.85. During day one, Felitsky carded a final score of 233.40 in the three-meet diving.

- The 100-yard backstroke was the eighth event of day one, where Scholer collected a second-place finish with a time of 57.07. Senior Reagan Linkous (58.82) and junior Hayley Taylor (59.52) registered sixth and seventh place finishes respectively.

- The team of Sobun, Johnson, Sundgren, and Fryckowska collected the silver in the 200-yard freestyle relay while clocking a time of 1:36.92.

- Duquesne will be back in action the following week when it participates in the Western PA Invite, hosted by Carnegie Mellon on Friday, Jan. 26 and Saturday, Jan. 27.

The Series vs. Saint Francis – Saturday will mark the 17^th meeting between the Dukes and Red Flash with Duquesne dominating the all-time series, 14-2. The Dukes have won 10 straight against Saint Francis, including a 188.5-73.5 last season in Loretto, Pa. Haley Scholer, Sydney Severini, Mara Voytek and Sydney Sherman teamed up to win the 200-yard medley relay by a narrow margin in front of another team of Dukes. The quartet hit the final wall at 1:48.29 to win the heat. Sherman went on to earn the top times in both the 50- and 200-yard freestyles. She posted a time of 1:58.12 to win the 200, before clocking in at 24.45 seconds to win the 50-yard heat. Voytek claimed a victory in the 50-yard breaststroke with her time of 31.13 seconds, which was .06 ahead of the second-place time. Johnson, Scholer, Gaby Jenkins and Leah Reisker wrapped up the day with the top time in the 400-yard freestyle relay. The group finished with a time of 3:33.02; over six seconds faster than the team from Saint Francis. The time also established a new pool record.

Celebrating The 11 – The Dukes will honor 11 final year swimmers and divers in a pregame ceremony before the meet on Saturday. Molly Brennan, Julia Davis, Madison Dickert, Natalia Fryckowska, Regan Holstein, Gaby Jenkins, Reagan Linkous, Madeline Marks, Abby Mele, Payton Rayko, and Alyssa Schonbachler will all be recognized for their contributions to the program.

Scholar Honor – Senior Reagan Linkous was one of four Dukes to be named to the 2023 Academic All-America® All-District 2 Team, which is selected by College Sports Communicators (CSC). Linkous, a physician assistant studies major, has compiled a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.83. She won the 200-yard backstroke last season at the Richmond Duals against the Spiders with a time of 2:02.82 after finishing second in the 100-yard backstroke at 57.28 seconds. Linkous owns a personal best of 1:58.58 in the 200-yard backstroke, which helped her earn bronze at the 2021 Atlantic 10 Championships.

Back To The Bluff – Amy Read joined the Duquesne swimming & diving coach staff as assistant diving coach after a distinguished career. In her lone season with the Dukes in 2022-23, Reed qualified for the NCAA national championships for the fifth consecutive year and was named the 2023 Atlantic 10 Diver of the Year. She owns the program school record for the one-meter thanks to a score of 296.10 that she established at the Richmond Duals in October of 2022. Jeff Brown is also in his first season coaching the divers at Duquesne after joining the coaching staff in June. Brown, a native of Pittsburgh, Pa., spent the past two seasons coaching in the high school ranks at a trio of schools, including Shaler, Peters Township and his alma mater, Hampton.

FOLLOW THE DUKES
For the latest Duquesne Swimming & Diving news and updates, follow the Dukes on social media on Twitter (X) and Instagram.