ROCHESTER, NY – The Alfred University men's swimming & diving team went the distance with the defending Empire 8 champions, Nazareth College on Friday evening but was edged, 126-108 in dual-meet action.
Friday's meet was exciting all the way down to the final race of the night, the 400-meter freestyle relay. The Naz team narrowly picked up the win with a time of 3:40.18, topping the Alfred team of
Fernando Lagos (Tegucigalpa, Honduras/Escuela e Instituo Lincoln), Andrew Yates (Naples, NY/Naples), Paul Tuttle (Irondequoit, NY/Irondequoit) and
William LaMastus (Maumee, OH/Anthony Wayne) and their time of 3:41.80.
"This was a great meet, especially away on a Friday night in a 25m pool, which we are not accustomed to," Head Coach
Brian Striker '00 said. "We showed a great deal of growth and improvement since the meet two weeks ago. Being a young team, it is encouraging to see the progress, and in tune with previous meet comments, I am excited for each forthcoming meet! For the guys, it was also a situation that had us competing for the meet into the final events, which hasn't happened in a few years. We responded quite well, with a new diver on the board, and then getting first, second and third in the 100 breaststroke – setting the table for an exciting final relay."
The meet started on a high note for AU as the 400-meter medley relay team of
Phil Volaski (Poughquag, NY/Arlington), Emiliano Terrazas (La Paz, Bolivia/Saint Andrew's), Colby Watkins and
Alessandro Lagos Canales (Tegucigalpa, Honduras/Escuela e Instituo Lincoln) won with a time of 4:04.86, handily defeating the Naz A-Team's time of 4:12.83. Just a few events later, Fernando picked up AU's first individual win as he swam a 2:03.06 in the 200-meter freestyle.
Terrazas and LaMastus then went 1-2 in the 200-meter individual medley, swimming 2:16.46 and 2:17.86, respectively. Watkins picked up a 1:00.74 win in the 100-butterfly. LaMastus and Volaski also picked up a gold-silver finish in the 100-meter backstroke as LaMastus raced to a 1:01.50 while Volaski Naz's top finisher, 1:02.52-1:02.82.
Andrew Briggs (Cooperstown, NY/Cooperstown) got his first collegiate diving points as he finished third on the 3-meter board, scoring 114.95 points.
AU's highest-scoring individual event was the 100-meter breaststroke as Terrazas,
Colin Schultz and
Wade LaMastus (Maumee, OH/Anthony Wayne) swept the event's top spots, swimming times of 1:08.04, 1:10.06 and 1:11.20, setting up the exciting relay finish on Friday evening.
The Saxons will next host University of Pittsburgh at Bradford on Friday, November 5 at 5:00pm in the McLane Natatorium.
