CLINTON, N.Y. – The Ithaca College men's swimming & diving team got its first taste of competition within the New Year as they competed in a quad meet hosted by Hamilton College on Saturday. Along with host Hamilton, the Bombers also squared off against Wesleyan University and RIT. Head-to-head, Ithaca defeated Wesleyan University (201-70) and Hamilton (158-117) but were defeated by RIT by final of 201-70.
The Bombers got off to a good start with a second-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay with
James Collishaw,
Michael Paulos,
Santiago Ludwig and Mathew Mitros combining for a time of 1:35.60, which was slower than RIT's 1:33.84. In the first individual event of the afternoon, the 1000-yard freestyle it was
Matthew Stevens who bested the field taking home first with a time of 10:06.13, which was over 10 seconds faster than the finisher from Wesleyan. Matt Thompson was the top IC finisher in the 200-yard freestyle as he was seventh with a time of 1:50.55. First year
Alec Kutsner was fourth in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 55.46 with RIT's Aidan Daudier winning with a time of 54.23.
Ithaca saw a good team result in the 100-yard breaststroke with
Michael Paulos coming home second (59.88) and in fourth was
Joe Pezzini (1:01.02).
Santiago Ludwig was the top IC finisher competing in the 200-yard butterfly with his third-place finish and time of 2:00.24. Ithaca didn't have any of its divers competing in the 3-meter on Saturday, but in the 1-meter
Kian Long finished fourth (234.60).
Evan Wardrop showed his mite in the 200-yard backstroke finishing fourth with a time of 2:03.76.
Another first-place finish for the Bombers was achieved by
James Collishaw in the 50 free where he touched the final wall in 21.43. Collishaw nearly won the 100-yard freestyle but he was bested by Nathanel Taft who finished in 46.12 compared to Collishaw's 46.51.
Joe Pezzini returned to action in the 200-yard breaststroke and he didn't disappoint finishing second with a time of 2:14.85 as RIT's Ben Sippel won the event in 2:11.77.
Ryan Cooke won the 500-yard freestyle over teammate
Matthew Stevens as it was a one-two finish for the Bombers with the tandem finishing with time of 4:54.00 and 4:57.47, respectively.
Michael Paulos was fifth in the 100-yard butterfly with a recorded time of 52.78. It turned out to be an exciting finish in the 200-yard IM as RIT's Aiadan Daudier and Hamilton's Jack Jee tied with the top time of 1:59.82 and in third for Ithaca was
Matthew Janssen who touched the final wall in 2:01.38.
The final event of the meet was the 200-yard freestyle relay where Ithaca finished third with
Alec Kutsner,
James Collishaw,
Michael Paulos and
Matthew Mitros combining for a time of 1:26.28. The Bombers will return to action in exactly one week when they will compete in the Henry Kumpf Invitational hosted by RIT on January 20. Action from Troy, N.Y. will begin at noon.
