Duquesne @ Atlantic 10 Championships
Wednesday, Feb. 19 to Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025
Hampton Virginia Aquaplex • Hampton, Va.

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Take Your Mark … BEEP
- The Duquesne University swimming and diving team returns to action when it travels to Hampton, Va. to compete at the Atlantic 10 Championships, inside the Hampton Virginia Aquaplex from Wednesday, Feb. 19 through Saturday, Feb. 22.

- The Dukes last competed at the Western Pa Invite hosted by Carnegie Mellon at the beginning on February. The 200-yard medley relay kicked things off at Carnegie Mellon on day two, with the team of sophomore Abby Philipsen, and freshmen Jess Burns, Ashley Freel, and Caitlyn Connors taking second place with a time of 1:47.42.

- Senior Kendra Joachim captured the first gold of the day for Duquesne in the 400 IM, touching the wall at 4:32.06. Freshman Caitlin Horning would capture the bronze in the same event by clocking in a time of 4:44.03.

- Senior Haley Scholer took home three gold medals on Saturday, capturing first-place in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:54.27 before taking the top spot in the 100-yard backstroke by touching the wall at 56.79.

- Sophomore Julia Sobun (59.42), Philipsen (59.54), sophomore Lexi Sundgren (1:00.28) and Severini (1:00.48) all finished in the top 10 of the same events In the 100 butterfly, junior Claudia Rzeznik secured a first-place finish by registering a time of 56.51 while classmate Sydney Severini recorded a time of 2:16.03 in the 200-yard breaststroke to take home gold.

- The Dukes featured nine entrees in the 50-yard freestyle, with Freel pacing the way with a third place finish (24.66). Rzeznik would be tabbed fifth (24.91) while Sobun (24.97) and freshman Rachel Howard (24.98) finished in seventh and eighth respectively.

- The 400-yard freestyle relay concluded the evening, with Duquesne capturing the gold and silver. The team of Sundgren, Sobun, Scholer, and Connors registered a time 3:35.93 to take the top spot while junior Katie Simpson, Howard, Freel, and Joachim clocked in a time of 3:37.74 to finish in second.

- The 200-yard freestyle relay kicked the event off as the Dukes captured the top two spots. The team of sophomore Lexi Sundgren, junior Claudia Rzeznik, freshman Ashley Freel, and senior Haley Scholer captured the gold with a time of 1:37.36. Freshman Rachel Howard, junior Katie Simpson, sophomore Kulia Sobun, and freshman Kaitlyn Connors touched the wall at 1:38.73 to take home second place.

- Freel would continue her dominance after tallying another first-place finish in the 200 backstroke, with a time of 2:03.66. Scholer would add another gold to her resume, clocking in a time of 52:85 in the 100-yard freestyle while Rzeznik secured the bronze by touching the wall at 53.30.

The A-10 Championships - The Dukes have consistently excelled at the Atlantic 10 Championships, winning back-to-back titles in 2017-18 and 2018-19. They finished as runners-up in 2021-22 before securing fourth place in each of the last two seasons. Since 2015, Duquesne has remained a top contender, finishing in the top four every year. Last year, Haley Scholer headlined the final day of competition with a gold-medal performance in the 200-yard backstroke, clocking in at 1:55.48. She first posted a prelims time of 1:56.73 before setting a new school record in the finals. Sydney Severini added to the team's success, earning bronze in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:14.03 after a prelims swim of 2:16.00. In the 1650 freestyle, Orla Egan delivered another standout performance, breaking the school record with a time of 16:42.68 to secure a fourth-place finish for the Dukes.

The 800-yard freestyle relay team of Lexi Sundgren, Molly Brennan, Orla Egan, and Haley Scholer captured the silver medal after touching the wall at 7:14.11, which is also a new Duquesne record. On day two, Egan set a new school record in the 500-yard freestyle by posting a time of 4:49.16 in the prelims. Later that evening, she broke her own Duquesne record in the finals, by touching the wall at 4:48.97 to finish in fourth place.

Scholar All-America Team - The College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) has named the Duquesne swimming and diving team a Scholar All-America Team. Under the leadership of Head Coach David Sheets, the Dukes posted an impressive 3.64 team GPA among 26 student-athletes this past fall, earning this prestigious recognition. This honor is nothing new for Duquesne, as the program was also named a CSCAA Scholar All-America Team last spring and has been a consistent presence on the list for over a decade. The team continued its academic excellence in the spring, recording an outstanding 3.69 GPA among 29 student-athletes. As part of the Spring 2024 Scholar All-America Team, the CSCAA recognized 781 teams from 459 institutions, honoring a total of 19,209 student-athletes for their exceptional academic achievements.

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