ITHACA, N.Y. — The Ithaca College men's swimming & diving team strengthened its hold atop the Liberty League Championship standings on Friday, turning in multiple event victories and top‑three performances to close Day 3 with 1,294 points, maintaining the overall lead heading into the final day of competition. With one day remaining, Ithaca holds a lead of nearly 90 points over second-place RIT (1206.5), while RPI sit in third with 812 team points.
The Bombers opened the night with a strong runner‑up finish in the 200-yard medley relay, as
Alec Kutsner,
Will Stanczewski,
Matthew Mitros, and
Spencer Alderson combined for a 1:29.96, less than a tenth behind RIT (1:29.88).
From there, Ithaca took control in the individual events.
James Moore delivered a dominant win in the 200 butterfly, touching first in 1:51.10, beating a field that included teammate
James Kissel (6th, 1:53.72) and first-year
Ben Lajoie (7th, 1:54.50) to stack major points for IC.
In the 100 backstroke, Ithaca placed three swimmers in the top five — Kutsner (3rd, 50.05),
Evan Wardrop (4th, 50.36), and
Marshall Adams (5th, 52.03) — another scoring surge that widened the margin over RIT. Sophomore
Will Stanczewski and classmate
Nick Sosa each reached the A‑final of the 100 breaststroke, finishing 6th (56.93) and 7th (57.09), respectively.
Ithaca also placed two divers in the final of 1‑meter diving, as senior
Kian Long earned second with 514.45 points, while sophomore
Andrew Cheely took 7th (348.90). The Tigers saw junior Luke Albanese reset a Liberty League Championship record score of 566.90 to win the event.
The Bombers closed the night with a statement victory in the 800 freestyle relay, where
Bennett Molitor-Kirsch, Lajoie,
Kyle Kruppa, and senior
Ryan Cooke dominated the field with a winning time of 6:45.09, securing another Ithaca relay title during the meet.
Action resumes Saturday morning for the final day of the four-day meet with events including: 1650-yard freestyle, 100-yard freestyle, 200-yard backstroke, 200-yard breaststroke, women's 3-meter diving, and the 400-yard freestyle relay. Morning prelims are at 10 a.m. diving at 1 p.m. and evening finals at 6 p.m.
