Alex Wagner
Sports Editor
Player Profile
Mike Nicholson ’14
Chappaqua, N.Y.
Sociology and Economics
Season statistics:
First in 200 IM vs. UMBC, UConn/Fordham and AU/Navy
First in 400 IM vs. UMBC
First in 200 fly vs. UConn/Fordham, AU/Navy
First in 200 back, 1,000 free and 100 breast vs. Lafayette
First in 200 breast vs. AU/Navy
Mike Nicholson ’14 continued his dominant season in the pool with his impressive performance in the home meet against Lafayette. He earned first place in the 1,000 free (9:48.42), 100 breast (58.22) and 200 back (1:56.05) events against the Leopards. His times in the 100 breast and the 200 back, two races that he doesn’t normally swim, are personal bests. He also won the 1,000 free by over 22 seconds.
“I think that my success against Lafayette came from the attitude our team took into the meet. We came off two straight split decisions in double dual meets, so we were very excited to be able to focus on a single opposing team,” Nicholson said. “We knew that we had a good chance to come out on top given our past performances against them, but we also knew that they were a formidable opponent. We wanted to hit them hard right out of the gate and not let down.”
Nicholson and the Bison certainly did not let down, winning 14 of 16 events overall. In addition, six of those wins had Bison occupy all three top spots.
“Winning our first home meet means a lot for the rest of our season. We obviously have more meets at home than anywhere else, so swimming well here at Bucknell is very important,” Nicholson said. “It’s especially important this year, as both the Bucknell Invitational this week and Patriot League Championships in February are both being held at Bucknell, as well as our highly contested dual meet against Army. We definitely have a ‘this is our house’ type mentality, and we want to defend our home turf throughout the rest of the season.”
Nicholson and the rest of the Orange and Blue squad will be back in action this weekend in the Bucknell Invitational.