WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – The Arcadia University men's swimming team won 12 of 14 events as it started the New Year with a pair of dual meet victories, defeating host King's College 183.5-75.5 and Messiah College 195-66 Friday. The Falcons were 135-24 winners over the Monarchs.
FOR THE RECORD: The Knights improved to 6-1 in dual meets this season. Messiah's record now stands at 3-7, while King's fell to 4-4.
BACKSTROKE: Senior
Eric Lam turned in a winning time of 2:01.11 in the 200 and was runner-up in the 100 with a time of 55.83, finishing just 0.06 seconds off the winning time of 55.77 recorded by King's Bryce Groshardt. Freshman
T.J. Dalton placed fourth in the 200 after registering a time of 2:08.73, while sophomore
Bill Rodgers placed fifth in the 100 after notching a time of 1:02.70, edging out junior
Mike Gallagher's sixth-place time of 1:03.36.
BREASTSTROKE: Junior
Chris Nicolescu won the 100 after registering a time of 1:02.38 as the Knights placed three individuals in the top-five. Freshman
Dylan Gardner placed third in 1:07.23, while classmate
Zach Bondurant placed fifth in 1:07.86. Arcadia repeated the feat in the 100 later in the day, with freshman
Mark Preedy winning the race in 2:17.95. Nicolescu was the runner-up in 2:21.65, while Bondurant again placed fifth after clocking in at 2:26.73.
BUTTERFLY: The Knights recorded a one-two finish in the 100 and 200 events. Junior
Jacob Schellinger won the 100 in 54.31, edging out senior
Matthew Morano's second-place time of 56.55. Morano was the victor in the 200 after touching the wall first in 2:03.73, followed by sophomore
Michael Melissen (2:07.28) in second and freshman
Austin Lauer (2:12.22) in fifth.
DISTANCE: Junior
Grant Fisher and Dalton posted a one-two finish in the 1,000 with respective times of 10:23.83 and 10:24.28. Fisher later touched the wall first in the 500 with a time of 5:00.70 to sweep the distance events, while Melissen's time of 5:04.12 was good for second.
INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY: Lam was victorious in the final individual event of the meet after touching the wall first in 2:02.82, while Dalton placed third in 2:07.17. Bondurant placed sixth in 2:10.55, missing a top-five finish by just 0.09 seconds.
SPRINTS: The Knights had each of the top-three finishers in the 200 freestyle, led by Fisher's winning time of 1:47.83. Morano placed second in 1:48.47, while sophomore
A.J. Cawley took third in 1:55.71. Freshman
Tristan Highet won the 100 freestyle with a time of 48.28 and was second to King's Dan Weekes (22.18) in the 50 freestyle with a time of 22.23. Preedy placed third in the 50 after touching the wall in 22.49, while Cawley placed fourth in 100 in 51.22.
RELAYS: The 200 medley relay of Lam, Nicolescu, Melissen and Highet registered a winning time of 1:39.72 to open the day's competition, while Dalton, Preedy, Schellinger and Cawley placed fourth in 1:44.56. Arcadia also had the first and fourth-place teams in the 200 freestyle relay to close out the day. The winning time of 1:30.06 was turned in by Highet, Melissen, Preedy and Morano, while the fourth-place time of 1:35.65 was notched by Cawley, Nicolescu, Bondurant and Fisher.
NEXT UP: The Knights will return to action next Saturday, January 21, to host Widener University at 1 p.m.
