NORTON, Mass. – Sophomore Marcus Tran (Milton, Mass.) won a pair of events to lead the Wheaton College (Mass.) men's swimming & diving team over visiting Bridgewater State University, 113-84, this morning at Balfour Natatorium on the Wheaton campus in Norton, Mass.
The Lyons improve to 1-1 on the season, while the Bears fall to 0-2.
Wheaton captured nine of 13 events for the meet, including a sweep of the top three spots in three different events.
Tran won the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 47.31, before taking the 200-yard backstroke with a mark of 2:01.33 for the Lyons. First year Boden Spirn (Bedford, Mass.) recorded his first collegiate win with a time of 2:01.00 in the 200-yard butterfly in addition to a fourth-place showing in the 200-yard freestyle with a mark of 1:52.79. Classmate Kale Copeland (Greenfield, Mass.) also notched victory for the first time at the collegiate level with a winning time of 10:22.24 in the 1000-yard freestyle. He added a fourth-place swim in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:09.70 to finish with 11 points.
Sophomore Abel Haller (Needham, Mass.) and senior Kevin Rice (Vienna, Va.) both finished with wins for Wheaton. Haller took the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:50.32, while Rice topped the field in the 200-yard individual medley with a clip of 2:05.89. Sophomore Leo Bailon Garcia (Guatemala City, Guatemala) contributed with seven points, behind a second-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle (1:50.85) and a third-place effort in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:07.68.
The Lyons opened the meet with a win in the 200-yard medley relay. Senior Jadyn Arnold (Oakland, Maine) opened the race in the backstroke, before yielding to Haller's breaststroke. Bailon Garcia swam the butterfly to set up Tran's 50-yard anchor in the freestyle.
Sophomore James Hein (Holliston, Mass.) led Bridgewater State with a pair of wins. He placed first in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 22.63, before taking the top spot in the 200-yard breaststroke with a mark of 2:19.10. Junior Caleb Perron (Belchertown, Mass.) turned in a first-place effort as well with a time of 5:52.53 in the 500-yard freestyle.
Junior Dylan Kelley (Foxborough, Mass.) chipped in with six points, including a second-place swim in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:29.94) and a fourth-place finish in the 200-IM (2:10.48) for the Bears. Senior Sean Taylor (South Dennis, Mass.) also placed in two events, finishing second in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:52.62 and was fifth in the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 12:27.51. Senior Aaron Fowler (Brookline, Mass.) was the runner-up in the 200-yard butterfly for the visitors with a time of 2:03.06 and sophomore Wilco Zbitnoff (Haverhill, Mass.) finished second in the 200-yard backstroke with a clip of 2:03.13.
Bridgewater State closed out the meet with a win in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Senior Jirat Saengthong (Watertown, Mass.), sophomore Leo Hachem (New Bedford, Mass.), Zbitnoff and Fowler combined on a winning time of 1:29.17.
Wheaton returns to the pool on November 7 when it hosts Springfield College and United States Coast Guard Academy in a double-dual meet at 11:00 a.m. in Balfour Natatorium, while the Bears host Eastern Connecticut State University on the same day at 2:00 p.m.
