ALFRED, NY – The Alfred University men's swimming and diving team was defeated by Nazareth College in the Saxons' lone dual match of the season on Saturday afternoon.
 
Nazareth defeated AU, 195-98 in the McLane Natatorium.
 
Nathan Sponenberg (Bloomsburg, PA/Central Columbia) picked up the first win for Alfred University, swimming a time of 58.59 in the 100-yard backstroke. Fernando Lagos Canales (Tegucigalpa, Honduras/Escuela E Instituo Lincoln) was the second Saxon to win an event, finishing with a time of 55.43 in the 100-yard butterfly.
 
The Saxons had a handful of second place finishes on the day. Emiliano Terrazas (La Paz, Bolivia/Saint Andrews) edged out teammate, Colin Schultz (Spencerport, NY/Spencerport) in the 200-yard individual medley. Terrazas swam a 2:11.48 and Schultz took a 2:11.85 as both were narrowly followed by another Saxon, Justin Jarmer (Flagstaff, AZ/Northland Preparatory Academy) with a 2:12.00 in one of the closest races of the day.
 
"It was really great to get back in the water!" Head Coach Brian Striker '00 said. "It has  been a long year and we were all pretty grateful to be competing. I think we're pretty realistic about the results, having such an abnormal season. Regardless of whether we had a best performance or something that was below expectations, we now have some perspective on what we have to do as we prepare for a championship in three weeks."
 
Billy Mirenda (Middletown, NY/Minisink) scored 173.15 points on the 3-meter diving board to take second while scoring 155.70 on the 1-meter board earlier in the meet for his first second place of the day. Sponenberg finished second in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:11.02. Lagos Canales swam a time of 50.26 to take a second place finish in the 100-yard freestyle and picked up another second place in the 200 free with a finish of 1:50.55. Terrazas edged out a Nazareth swimmer to claim second in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:03.54, topping the Golden Flyer's 1:03.78 finish. Noah Koltenuk (Dansville, PA/Dansville Area) rounded out the second place finishes with a time of 11:00.83 in the 1,000-yard freestyle.
 
The Saxons will next look to head to the Webster Aquatic Center in Webster, NY for the Empire 8 Swimming & Diving Championships on Thursday, April 1 and Saturday, April 3.