WATERVILLE, Maine — Senior Brian Hixson (Scituate, Mass.) tallied 28 points to lead the Wheaton College (Mass.) men's swimming & diving team on the first day of the Maine Collegiate Swimming & Diving Winter Invitational at the Harold Alfond Athletics and Recreation Center Aquatics Center in Waterville, Maine.
The Lyons scored 145 points as a team to place fifth following the first session. Host Colby College tallied 313.5 points to top the field, followed by No. 21 Bates College with 286 points. Division I University of Maine sits in third place with 250 points and Bowdoin College is fourth with 200.5 points.
Hixson placed fifth in a pair of events for Wheaton. He registered a personal-record time of 20.92 in the 50-yard freestyle, which followed a fifth-place showing in the 200-yard individual medley with a season-best mark of 1:57.98. First year Marcus Tran (Milton, Mass.) posted the highest finish for the Lyons in any race, touching the wall with a personal-best clip of 20.66 to finish third in the 50-yard freestyle to capture 16 points.
Tran, senior Will Larson (Iowa City, Iowa), senior Gavin Cullinan (Cumming, Ga.) and Hixson combined for a time of 1:23.51 to place fourth in the 200-yard freestyle relay.
Cullinan scored in a pair of events for a total of 16 for Wheaton. He finished seventh in the 50-yard butterfly with a personal-record time of 22.99 to finish just short of the school-record in the race. He also placed 13th in the 500-yard freestyle with a season-best time of 4:51.16.
Junior Jadyn Arnold (Oakland, Maine) turned in a season-best time of 24.74 to finish sixth in the 50-yard backstroke to score 13 points, while junior Kevin Rice (Vienna, Va.) finished eighth in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 1:59.12 for the Lyons.
Larson placed 10th in the 50-yard freestyle with a season-best mark of 21.44 for Wheaton and senior Andrew Tran (Milton, Mass.) finished 12th with a personal-record time of 27.25 in the 50-yard breaststroke to score for the Lyons.
Sophomore Koby Wulfmeyer (New Paltz, N.Y.) and first years Addy Farag (Alexandria, Egypt) and Nate Contreras (Coalville, Utah) each got into the scoring column for Wheaton. Wulfmeyer placed 14th in the 50-yard breaststroke with a season-best time of 28.09, while Farag finished 16th in the 50-yard butterfly with a season-best mark of 23.51 and Contreras clocked in at 4:58.22 to place 16th in the 500-yard freestyle.
The Lyons closed the meet with a fifth-place effort in the mixed 400-yard medley relay. Marcus Tran led off with the backstroke, followed by senior Emma Claire Lambert-Shemo (Cleveland, Ohio) in the breaststroke and Cullinan in the butterfly, before senior Garin Stone (Barrington, R.I.) closed out the race in the freestyle to combine for a time of 3:42.49.
Wheaton returns to Waterville tomorrow morning for the 10:00 a.m. session of the Maine Collegiate Swimming & Diving Winter Invitational.
