FREDONIA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's swimming and diving team started its 2016-17 season off on the right foot as the Bombers earned two wins on Saturday in a tri-meet at Steele Hall Natatorium.  Ithaca defeated The College of Brockport, 222-72, and host SUNY Fredonia, 166-132.

Ithaca began the day with a second place finish in the 200 medley relay as Gregory Markert, Andrew Mikhailichenko, Adam Zelehowsky and Connor Schroyer teamed up to finish the event in 1:38.94 – less than half a second off the winning pace set by the Blue Devils.

Jake Hewitt collected a top finish in the 1000 free after beating the field by more than 15 seconds with a winning time of 10:36.11 and would also take the top spot in the 500 free with a time of 5:09.09.

Zelehowsky posted the top time in the 200 free after touching the wall in 1:47.43 while teammate John Mosier took runner-up honors in 1:52.31.  Zelehowsky would go on to earn another first place by the tips of his fingers in the 100 fly after winning by just .02 of a second with a time of 54.04.   
 
The Bombers took two of the top three spots in the 50 backstroke as Jack Lacy and Aaron Levin finished second and third, respectively.  Levin would later claim the top finishing time in the 50 free and the 100 free.  In the 50, Levin beat out 10 other competitors with a mark of 22.06 before winning by three seconds in the 100 in 48.34.

Mikhailichenko won the 100 breaststroke by a slim margin after completing the race in 59.68.  Fredonia took second place in 59.75.

Ithaca continued its success in relays as Levin, Schroyer, Zelehowsky and Kellen Scanlan won the 200 free relay with a time of 1:28.04.

Joshua Briggs finished fifth in the 1-meter dive with a score of 226.60.  He would later finish sixth overall in the 3-meter with 197.75 points.  
 
Ithaca will return to action at 1 p.m. on Saturday when it opens the home portion of its schedule against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute inside the A&E Center Aquatics Pavilion.