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AU Men’s and Women’s Swimming Picked Third in PL Preseason Poll
Liscinsky, Lidstrom lead Eagles in 2002-03

Oct. 28, 2002

Ethan Bassett will help lead the AU men's swimming & diving squad in 2002-03.

WASHINGTON -- The American University men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams were both picked to finish third in the 2002-03 Patriot League Preseason Poll as chosen by the league’s coaches and sports information directors.

In the men’s division, AU had one first-place vote and 52 points overall. Lehigh, which earned a team title last season, garnered nine first-place votes for a total of 69 points for first followed by Army. The Black Knights earned three first-place votes and 57 overall.

“I‘m excited about the people who came back in shape and I’m excited about some of the results already,” said American coach Mark Davin, last year’s Patriot League Men’s Coach of the Year. “Army and Lehigh have very good programs and coaches.”

American returns a league-best six All-League Performers including senior Mark Liscinsky (Olney, Md./Sherwood), juniors Ethan Bassett (Potomac, Md./Winston Churchill), Dominic Szabo (North Wales, Pa./North Penn) and Tim Miller Pittsburgh, Pa./Shady Side Academy), and seniors Stephen Maher (Stuart, Fla./Lincoln) and Mike Lawson (West Chester, Pa./ West Town). Bassett was the 2002 Patriot League Men's Swimming & Diving Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

The women’s team took third in the voting behind defending league champions Navy and Bucknell. Eight of the Mids’ 91 total points were first place as the Bison had 87 points including six first-place votes.

Junior Jessica Lidstrom (Stockholm, Sweden/The Swedish School in London), the 2002 Patriot League Women’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year, is the only All-League performer returning for the Eagles.

American University, which fields a 19-sport NCAA Division I athletics program featuring 10 women’s sports and nine for men, recently completed its inaugural year of membership in the Patriot League. The University had an extremely successful year to date on respective fields of play, capturing league championships in men’s soccer, women’s volleyball, men’s tennis and women’s tennis, and regular-season titles in men’s basketball and women’s lacrosse.

Chartered by an Act of Congress in 1893, American University features students from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and more than 160 nations worldwide.