SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. — Senior Will Larson (Iowa City, Iowa) and first year Marcus Tran (Milton, Mass.) each won a pair of races and the Wheaton men's swimming & diving team won all 12 events in a 176-40 victory over Clark University at host Mount Holyoke College at MHC Natatorium in South Hadley, Mass.
The Lyons improve to 3-3, while the Cougars fall to 0-3.
Wheaton won every event, but also swept the top three spots in even different individual races.
Tran touched the wall with a first-place time of 1:49.47 in the 200-yard freestyle, before taking the 100-yard breaststroke with a mark of 1:00.86 for the Lyons. Larson won the 50-yard freestyle with a sprint of 22.21, in addition to a victory in the 100-yard backstroke with a clip of 55.61.
First year Nate Contreras (Coalville, Utah) won the first individual event of the meet for Wheaton with a time of 10:39.10 in the 100-yard freestyle, before classmate Abel Haller (Needham, Mass.) turned in the top time in the 200-yard individual medley at 2:04.31. Conteras also scored with a fourth-place showing in the 100-yard backstroke and Haller was the runner-up in the 500-yard freestyle.
Senior Brian Hixson (Scituate, Mass.) placed first in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 54.86 and classmate Gavin Cullinan (Cumming, Ga.) claimed the fastest time in the 100-yard freestyle with a 48.82 effort for the Lyons. Hixson was also second in the 200-yard freestyle.
Junior Kevin Rice (Vienna, Va.) finished first in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:02 and placed third in the 200-yard individual medley. Sophomore Michael Ruemelin (Chicago, Ill.) made his collegiate debut on the diving board with a first place tally of 137.18 points for Wheaton.
The Lyons opened and closed the meet with wins in both relays. Larson led off the opening backstroke of the 200-yard medley relay, before yielding to senior Andrew Tran (Milton, Mass.) in the breaststroke. Cullinan swam the butterfly leg, before yielding to Hixson, who touched the wall at 1:37.74, following his freestyle anchor. Wheaton's time of 3:22.36 was good for first in the 400-yard freestyle relay as well. Cullinan combined with Contreras, junior Jadyn Arnold (Oakland, Maine) and sophomore Koby Wulfmeyer (New Paltz, N.Y.) for the first-place effort to end the day for the Lyons.
Wheaton returns to the pool on Saturday, January 17 when it travels to Middletown, Conn. to compete against host Wesleyan University and University of Bridgeport at 1:00 p.m.
