Results

ALFRED, NY – The Alfred University men's swimming and diving team has done it again! The Saxons were lifted to a 145-143 win over the visiting Hawks of Hartwick College in the final race on Saturday afternoon in McLane Center.
 
In football, when a team is down by one touchdown, or less, with the clock running out, the down offense will throw a "Hail Mary" pass. Simply meaning the quarterback just chucks the ball in the air and hopes one of his teammates can snag it in the end zone for the win. In the past two days, head coach Brian Striker has called the swimming version of the "Hail Mary". In sense, he called a "Hail Alfred" play.
 
Coach Striker switched one of his usual 'A' team swimmers of the 200 Yard Freestyle Relay, Joseph Rogers (Dublin, NH) with one of his 'B' teamers, Derek Ciraolo (Grand Island, NY/St. Joseph's) right before the race where the Saxons were down 132-139. All the AU teams needed to do was take first and at least third to win. The 'B' team of Rogers, Matt Watterson (Westerville, OH/Worthington Christian), Sheldon Vosburgh (Canajoharie, NY/Canajoharie) and Patrick Brown (Olean, NY/Olean) earned the third place finish by almost two seconds with a time of 1:30.70.
 
The Saxon 'A' team of the 200 Free Relay of David Luke (Ocala, FL/West Port), Joseph Lawrence (Clarence Center, NY/Clarence), Ciraolo and David Coombes (Dansville, NY/Dansville) edged out Hartwick's 'A' team of Miles Blaney, Matt Plunkett, Joseph Mulvehill and Brian Edmister by 0.01 seconds to seal the deal and earn the Alfred swimmers their second victory of the weekend after pulling the same tactic on Friday at Le Moyne College. The team's final time was 1:27.68 while the Hawks' time was 1:27.69.
 
The path to Saturday's victory began in the men's first event of the day, the 200 Medley Relay. Coombes, Jeffrey Rowland (Rochester, NY/Hilton), Zac Toth (Lockport, NY/Starpoint) and Luke won the race with a time of 1:39.01 while Hartwick's 'A' team finished second with a 1:39.27.
 
Coombes' individual efforts earned him a first place in the 200 Free with a time of 1:43.25 over the Hawks' Blaney's 1:43.38 and a first place in the 100 Free with a time of 46.07. Both times earn him two more spots on Alfred's Swimming and Pool Records wall display as he broke both pool records while still owning the all-time swimming records at AU.
 
Luke picked up an individual win in the 50 Free with a time of 21.46 while Rogers and Lawrence followed in second and fourth place with times of 22.86 and 23.11, respectively.
 
Seth Steele (Crossville, TN/Cicero-North Syracuse) and Benjamin Bowers (Royersford, PA/Kimberton Waldorf School) were uncontested on the boards on Saturday, combining to crucially earn the team 26 points. Steele won the 1-Meter with a score of 136.20 and the 3-Meter with a tally of 146.55.
 
Zac Toth earned a win in the 100 Fly with a time of 52.32 while Lawrence supplemented the race with a second place, 54.41 finish and then got the victory in the 200 IM with a time of 2:00.29, topping Luis Santiesteban's 2:00.92 performance.
 
The younger brother of Zac Toth, Alec Toth (Lockport, NY/Starpoint), earned valuable points in the pool on Saturday with a second place finish in the 1,000 Freestyle (10:41.32) and a third place in the 500 Free (5:09.08).
 
The Saxons will enjoy a week of practice before having to compete again. They will host the Bombers of Ithaca College on Saturday, January 24 at 1:00 pm in McLane Center where the seniors will be honored in pre-meet ceremonies.