By Kevin Hornibrook
News editor
The men’s swim team hosted the Franklin and Marshall Diplomats on Feb. 5, concluding their regular season with a statement win at 141-121. Strong individual event performance propelled the now 5-2 Lions to hand the Diplomats their first loss of the season.
The Diplomats, who have won their last ten meets, started with an early lead after taking first and third in the 200-yard medley relay. But the lead evaporated in the next event, with a dominant trio from the College of freshman Lukas Blach, freshman Ryan Higgins and sophomore Ethan Laible taking first, second and third respectively in the 1000-yard freestyle. This was the only one-two-three finish in an otherwise close and competitive meet.
Sophomore James McChesney injected some energy into the event with an explosive last-second victory over Franklin and Marshall’s Chris Schaivone in the 200-yard freestyle. Despite trailing for most of the race, a 24.59 second split on the final lap gave McChesney the edge and filled the Aquatic Center with cheers.
Later in the meet, the Diplomats were on the winning-end of an exciting finish as Tom Graminski took first in the 100-yard breaststroke. Freshman swimmer for the College, Shawn Kushner’s 58.29 time was just 0.28 seconds shy of first place.
Perhaps the most dominant showing of the meet was fifth-year Andrew Thompson’s 200-yard butterfly, which saw him finish a full six seconds ahead of second place with a new personal best time of 1:54.16.
The College entered the intermission trailing by one point. When the meet resumed, four consecutive events went the Lions’ way, with first-place finishes from sophomore Jack Marble (50-yard freestyle), McChesney (100-yard freestyle), Higgins (200-yard backstroke), and a possible revenge-race from Kushner (200-yard breaststroke).
From this point, the Lions needed to stay steady to clinch a victory. Solid performances in the 200-yard butterfly and freestyle relay as well as another strong race from Thompson in the 200-yard individual medley were enough to get the job done.
The non-conference win was a team-wide effort, with seven different swimmers earning at least one first place finish, each of which is worth nine points.
After the final tabulation, the College officially won the meet and can set their sights on the Conference Championships later this month.
Their final record of 5-2 puts them second in the NJAC Conference.
