By Gregory Wagner
Over the weekend of Nov. 20 to Nov. 22, the Fordham swimming and diving team took to Lewisburg, Pennsylvania for the annual Bucknell Invitational.
At the Bucknell Invitational, the Fordham Rams finished the weekend with strong performances from both the men’s and women’s swimmers and divers. Junior Megan Polaha and senior Steve Sholdra were both named A-10 performers of the week with their great performances at Bucknell.
Polaha finished the weekend at the Bucknell Invitational with three individual wins, and she also came home with two different school records. On Friday, Polaha took first place in the 200 yd. individual medley with a time of 2:02.90. However, Polaha’s big finishes came on both Saturday and Sunday when she beat out the competition in both the 400 yd. individual medley and the 200 yd. butterfly.
In the 400 yd. individual medley on Saturday, Megan broke her own school record winning the event in an NCAA “B” cut time of 4:18.91. She finished the 200 yd. butterfly in a time of 1:58.47, again bettering her own school record and finishing in with an NCAA “B” cut time.
Steve Sholdra’s second A-10 performance of the week came after a phenomenal performance at the Bucknell invitational. Sholdra broke a school record in the 500 yd. freestyle in a time of 4:26.81, and he also finished first in the 1650 yd. freestyle in an NCAA “B” cut time of 15:27.32. Sholdra also took first place in the 400 yd. individual medley with a season-best time of 3:54.64.
Following Sholdra’s stellar performance, the senior was rightfully very happy. “The 2015 Bucknell Invitational was one of the best meets I’ve ever had an opportunity to be a part of,” he said. “It’s my favorite meet year after year.”
Another notable performer from the weekend was sophomore Liam Semple, who continued to improve as he finished the 100 yd. freestyle in a season-best time of 46.93 seconds on Sunday. On Saturday, Senior Shannon Lulley beat out the competition in the 100 yd. butterfly as she finished with a time of 54.47 seconds.
At the conclusion of the invitational on Sunday, the Fordham women’s swimming and diving team finished in third place out of nine teams, while the Fordham men’s swimming and diving team finished in eighth place.
Although the team finished in eighth place, Sholdra was as upbeat as ever, and was not disappointed in the team’s overall performance at all. Steve stated that “the competition [at the Invitational] is incredible, there is so much talent shown on every team.
“I think our team rose to the level of competition and performed well all weekend,” he continued.
However, the importance of this meet did not end on Sunday according to Sholdra, explaining that “multi-day invitationals are great ways to build our team and to show our freshmen some of the intensity of our season-culminating Conference Championships.”
Looking forward from the Bucknell Invitational, Fordham swimming and diving will take on Manhattan College this Tuesday, Dec. 2, at the Col. Francis B. Messmore Aquatic Center, before they have a nice month long break from competition.
