NORTON, Mass. — The Wheaton College (Mass.) men's swimming & diving team was defeated by visiting Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 169-125, this evening at Balfour Natatorium on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass.
The Lyons drop to 4-5 on the season, while the Engineers improve to 9-5.
The teams split the events with eight wins each, but WPI took two of the top three spots in 11 events, including a 1-2-3 sweep. Wheaton led 49-44 after five events and was within 93-92 after 10, before the Engineers pulled away in the final six events for the dual meet victory.
Wheaton opened and closed the meet with relay wins. First year Marcus Tran (Milton, Mass.) opened the 400-yard medley relay in the backstroke, before yielding to older brother Andrew Tran (Milton, Mass.) in the breaststroke. Senior Gavin Cullinan (Cumming, Ga.) followed in the butterfly and Hixson closed out the win on the freestyle anchor for a combined time of 3:29.78. Marcus Tran, senior Will Larson (Iowa City, Iowa), Cullinan and Hixson each swam 50-yards for a time of 1:24.81 to rule the 200-yard freestyle for the Lyons.
Cullinan won both of his individual events, taking the 200-yard freestyle behind a time of 1:45.65, before touching first in the 200-yard backstroke with a mark of 1:57.48. Marcus Tran topped both of his races as well, recording a winning mark of 53.34 in the 100-yard backstroke, before turning in a time of 47.32 to claim victory in the 100-yard freestyle. Andrew Tran won the 100-yard breaststroke with a clip of 1:01.27 and added a runner-up effort in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:14.97 to give him 13 points for the night. Hixson also tallied 13 points for the Blue and White. He sprinted to a 21.57 triumph in the 50-yard freestyle and later placed second in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 47.60.
Sophomore Michael Ruemelin (Chicago, Ill.) did the scoring on the diving board for Wheaton, scoring 133.27 points to place third on the one-meter board and totaled 119.40 points for another third place showing on the three-meter board.
First year Lucas Brown (Viera, Fla.) won a pair of swimming events and sophomore Tom Fitzgerald (East Longmeadow, Mass.) captured both diving events to lead WPI. Brown placed first in the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 10:02.75 in the first individual event of the evening, before closing the individual events with a win in the 400-yard individual medley on a time of 4:13.56 for the Engineers. Fitzgerald was unmatched on the board, outscoring the field on the one-meter board with a tally of 236.10 points in addition to a count of 192.37 points to take the three-meter board.
WPI first year Luke Vipond (Mahtomedi, Minn.) touched first in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:12.66. He also placed third in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:02.02) and fourth in the 200-yard freestyle. Junior Lucas Pralle (Acton, Maine) racked up 13 points, including a win in the 200-yard butterfly with a mark of 1:59.61 to go with a second-place effort in the 100-yard butterfly behind a clip of 54.44. Junior Dean Doubek (Arnold, Md.) and senior Gavin McCullough (Colorado Springs, Colo.) each put up a dozen points for the visitors. Doubek placed first in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 52.85 and placed third in the 50-yard freestyle (21.96), while McCullough out-paced the field in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:59.09 and added a third-place showing in the 200-yard freestyle (1:48.09).
The Lyons return to the pool when they host Connecticut College and Trinity College (Conn.) on Sunday, January 25 at 12:00 p.m. on Senior Day at Balfour Natatorium, while the Engineers are in action again on Friday, January 23 when they travel to Bristol, R.I. to compete in the two-day Menck Invitational hosted by Roger Williams University.
