Duquesne vs. Akron (Swimming)
Friday, Jan. 10, 2025 • 5:00 p.m.
Pittsburgh, Pa. • Towers Pool

Duquesne vs. Buffalo (Swimming)
Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025 • 11:00 a.m.
Pittsburgh, Pa. • Towers Pool

Duquesne @ Buffalo Diving Invite (Diving)
Friday, Jan. 10, 2025 to Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025
Buffalo, NY • Alumni Arena Natatorium & Dorsi Raynolds Pool

Take Your Mark … BEEP
- The Duquesne swimming & diving team open the new calendar year by splitting up into two competitions. The swimming team will host Akron on Friday, Jan. 10 before welcoming Buffalo on Saturday, Jan. 11, inside Towers Po0l. The diving team will travel to Buffalo, NY, to compete in the UB Diving Invite from Friday, Jan. 10, through Sunday, Jan. 12.

- Before heading to Pompano Beach, Fla., for its annual winter training camp, the swimming team is coming off its competition at the Fall Frenzy (Nov. 21 – Nov. 24) where they took home the bronze with 1,148 total points.

- On the final day, the 200-yard backstroke highlighted the day for Duquesne as the Dukes took three of the top five spots. Senior Haley Scholer led the charge, securing first-place by touching the wall at 1:55.54 while improving her time from the prelims (1:57.86). Scholer's time was also a meet record while being an NCAA "B" cut time.

- Freshman Sierra Snow took the bronze with a time of 159.27 while classmate Caitlin Horning took the fifth spot by clocking in a finals time of 2:00.19. In the 200-yard breaststroke, freshman Jess Burns took home the silver as she touched the wall at 2:15.33. Junior Sydney Severini finished with the bronze in the same event, clocking in a time of 2:15.38. The 1650 freestyle got things started on the day as senior Orla Egan finished in third-place with a final time of 16:58.81.

- Senior Orla Egan was the highlight for Duquesne on Friday, capturing the bronze in the 500-yard freestyle. The event was the third race of the day as Egan touched the wall at 4:55.42. Sophomore Lexi Sundgren and senior Kendra Joachim also competed in the race as Sundgren finished sixth with a time of 4:58.49 and Joachim touched the wall at 5:02.13 to be tabbed seventh.

- The diving team is coming off its competition at the WVU Diving Invite on Nov. 20 and Nov. 21. The Dukes competed in the one-meter dive, which included 33 entries. Junior Ashley Felitsky led the way, qualifying for the finals with a preliminary score of 231.20. In the finals, she improved her performance, finishing sixth out of eight divers with a score of 234.50 after six dives.

- Sophomore Lydia Redd advanced to the consolation round, where she posted a score of 225.80 after scoring 206.70 in the preliminaries, earning fifth place in the consolation. Junior Kendall Nigh scored 199.10, while freshman Josei Festa recorded 191.30. Senior Julia Doolittle (185.65), freshman Brianne Dempsey (180.20), and sophomore Erin Castagnero (175.30) also contributed solid performances.

- The three-meter dive on the second day saw three Dukes advance to the consolation round. Felitsky (235.90), Dempsey (220.40), and Nigh (219.80) secured additional dives later in the dau. Dempsey led the trio, finishing fifth with a score of 214.80. Felitsky followed with 213.20, and Nigh posted a score of 207.95.

The Series vs. Akron – It'll be just the 11^th time the Dukes and Zips battle on Friday night as Akron has won the first 1o meetings. The two squads are competing against each other for the first time since the 2019-20 season and the first time inside Towers Pool since the 2018-19 campaign. In the last meeting, Sydney Sherman placed third in the 50-yard backstroke with a time of 26.73. Emma Menzer finished fourth in the 800-yard freestyle at 8:23.70 and Hanna Everhart posted a fourth-place mark in the 150-yard freestyle at 1:23.91. Emma Brinton recorded a fifth-place finish in the 100-yard IM with a time of 59.93, while Erin Kuhn registered a fifth-place mark in the 150-yard breaststroke with a mark of 1:44.83. Sawyer Weitzel paced the Duquesne divers on the 1-meter boards with a score of 224.35 while Sidney O'Donnell led the Dukes on the 3-meter at 246.65.

The Series vs. Buffalo – Saturday's matchup with be the 10^th meeting between the Dukes and Bulls as Buffalo holds an 8-1 advantage in the series. The two squads battled last January, with the Bulls grabbing a 206.50 – 159.50 victory. The 200-yard medley relay opened the festivities at the tri-meet, with the team of Haley Scholer, Sydney Severini, Julia Sobun, and Natalia Fryckowska finishing third thanks to a time of 1:47.13. Freestyle competition followed as four Dukes competed in the 200-yard freestyle. Lexi Sundren finished second with a time of 1:54.39 and Egan Orla clocked in at 1:54.55 to take bronze. Orla continued her day in the 500-yard freestyle, where she took silver after posting a time of 5:04.51. The 100-yard backstroke was the eighth event of day one, where Scholer collected a second-place finish with a time of 57.07. 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.

Preseason Poll - According to a poll of Atlantic 10 coaches, the Duquesne University swimming & diving team has been picked to finish fourth in the conference in 2024-25. The Dukes accumulated 89 points in the poll, with George Washington being selected as the preseason favorite with 10 first-place votes and 120 points. Richmond was tabbed second with one first-place vote and 105 total points, with Fordham (96), Duquesne, and Davidson (72) rounding out the top five. George Mason was selected to finish sixth, followed by Massachusetts and St. Bonaventure. La Salle, Rhode Island, and Saint Louis round out the poll.

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