NORTON. Mass. — Junior Kevin Rice (Vienna, Va.) tallied a team-high 25 points and senior Gavin Cullinan (Cumming, Ga.) won his only individual event to lead the Wheaton College (Mass.) men's swimming & diving team on Day One of the Chris Fisher Invitational hosted at Balfour Natatorium on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass.
Roger Williams University led all squads with 479 points, followed closely by Babson College at 452. The Lyons' total of 286 points puts them third and Eastern Connecticut State University slots in at fourth with 161 points.
Babson claimed five of the eight events, while Wheaton won a pair and Roger Williams claimed one top spot.
Rice finished fifth in the 500-yard freestyle for the Lyons with a personal-best time of 4:48.39 and was eighth in the 100-yard breaststroke with a mark of 1:00.04. Cullinan's time of 1:54.50 was the fastest of the night in the 200-yard backstroke.
Wheaton's second first-place showing came in the 200-yard freestyle relay to open the men's meet. First year Marcus Tran (Milton, Mass.), senior Will Larson (Iowa City, Iowa), Cullinan and senior Brian Hixson (Scituate, Mass.) combined for a winning mark of 1:23.43.
Tran and Hixson also contributed to the Lyons' haul with third-place finishes in their respective individual events. Tran turned in a season-best time of 1:57.56 in the 200-yard backstroke, while Hixson's clip of 46.99 scored him 16 points in the 100-yard freestyle. Larson and first year Abel Haller (Needham, Mass.) each picked up 14 points with fifth-place efforts for Wheaton. Larson clocked in at a season-best 48.37 in the 100-yard freestyle, while Haller touched the wall with a personal-best time of 1:59.10 in the 200-yard individual medley.
First year Nate Contreras (Coalville, Utah) placed sixth with a season-best time of 4:53.25 in the 500-yard freestyle and junior Jadyn Arnold (Oakland, Maine) chipped in with 12 points behind a seventh-place finish in the 200-yard butterfly with a season-best mark of 2:05.13. Senior Andrew Tran (Milton, Mass.) and junior Andrew Gust (North Andover, Mass.) each scored 11 points for the Lyons. Tran finished eighth in the 200-yard butterfly with a clip of 2:05.41. Gust's 2:05.37 effort was a season-best and much faster than his morning prelim time in the 200-yard backstroke and good for eighth place as well. Wheaton closed the night by finishing third in the 400-yard medley relay with a time of 3:27.71. Marcus Tran opened with the backstroke, followed by his older brother in the breaststroke. Cullinan swam the butterfly leg and Hixson finished with the freestyle anchor.
Junior Anthony Taslakov (Sherborn, Mass.) outpaced the field in the 500-yard freestyle with a winning time of 4:40.43 for Babson. The Beavers got a winning time of 1:55.81 in the 200-yard individual medley from sophomore Dom Crisafulli (Natick, Mass.) and sophomore Nehemiah Rhee (Paramus, N.J.) placed first in the 200-yard butterfly with a clip of 1:53.68. Sophomore Nathan Huynh (Naperville, Ill.) touched first in the 100-yard breaststroke behind a time of 56.55. Babson's time of 3:24.82 was good for first in the 400-yard medley relay in a one-two finish for the Beavers in the final event. Sophomore Thomas Ambelang (Bernardsville, N.J.), Huynh, Rhee and first year Evan Hong (Longmeadow, Mass.) combined for the win.
Roger Williams' only victory of the night came in the 100-yard freestyle. First year James Augustin (Massapequa, N.Y.) sprinted to a win with a clip of 56.55 for the Hawks.
The teams return for tomorrow's 10:00 a.m. preliminaries at Balfour Natatorium.
