NORTON, Mass. — The Wheaton College (Mass.) men's swimming & diving team was defeated by visiting Bentley University, 161-110, this afternoon in the season opener for both programs at Balfour Natatorium on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass.
The Lyons drop to 0-1 on the season, while the Falcons improve to 1-0.
Bentley won 12 of 16 events, while Wheaton took both relays.
Junior Anton Lopez (Oakland, Calif.) and sophomore Brian Hixson (Scituate, Mass.) paced the Lyons with an individual win apiece and helped in both relay victories. Lopez anchored the opening 200-yard medley relay on the freestyle, following sophomore Andrew Tran's (Milton, Mass.) backstroke, senior Ben Goho (Lincoln, R.I.) in the breaststroke and sophomore Gavin Cullinan (Cumming, Ga.) in the butterfly to combine on a winning mark of 1:35.65. Hixson led off the winning 200-yard freestyle ahead of sophomore Will Larson (Iowa City, Iowa), Lopez and Cullinan to close the meet with a time of 1:26.92.
Lopez captured first place in the 50-yard freestyle at 21.99 with Larson placing second in the event with a time of 22.09. Lopez also placed fifth in the 100-yard freestyle. Hixson led a 1-2 Lyon result in the 100-yard freestyle, posting a time of 47.99 ahead of Wheaton junior Sean Hill's (Ellsworth, Maine) time of 49.03. Hixson added a fifth-place effort in the 200-yard individual medley, while Hill turned in a fourth-place showing in the 1000-yard freestyle.
Goho finished second in a pair of events with a time of 2:19.05 in the 200-yard breaststroke and 1:00.55 in the 100-yard breaststroke, while Tran also posted two runner-up efforts. He placed second in both backstroke events with a time of 53.54 in the 100 and 1:58.83 in the 200.
Jakub Zukowski (Farmington, Conn.) won three individual events to lead Bentley. He dominated the breaststroke, winning both the 100 and 200-yard events with times of 59.67 and 2:14.18 for the Falcons, respectively and added a victory in the 200-yard individual medley on a clip of 2:00.07.
Junior Joey Twomey (Sebastian, Fla.) and sophomore Leighton Wielgoszinski (Madison, Ind.) each won a pair of events for Bentley as well. Wielgoszinski was automatic in the distance events with a 10:13.47 showing in the 1000-yard freestyle and a winning time of 4:56.21 to top the 500-yard freestyle field. Twomey aced the butterfly races with a win in the 200 following a mark of 2:03.81 and a victory in the 100-yard event after posting a mark of 54.10.
First year Daniel Ivanchikov (Leola, Pa.) placed first in the 200-yard freestyle for the Falcons after touching the wall at 1:47.21, while first year Daniel Lehr (Bethlehem, Pa.) finished first in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 53.00. First year Matthew Walden (Cumberland, R.I.) picked up the other individual swimming win for Bentley after turning in a time of 1:57.25 in the 200-yard breaststroke.
Sophomore Owen Angkatavanich posted the only win among the male divers with a score of 154.05 on the three-meter board for Bentley.
The Falcons are in action again on October 29 when they host College of Saint Rose at 2:00 p.m., while the Lyons head to Bristol, R.I. to take on Roger Williams University on October 27 at 5:00 p.m.
