ALFRED, NY – The Alfred University men's swimming & diving team completed its clean sweep of Empire 8 opponents during the regular season after topping Hartwick College, 156-144 on Saturday afternoon after Senior Day celebrations from the McLane Natatorium.
 
The Saxons had 143 points going into the final event, the 200-yard freestyle relay while Hartwick had 140. The team of William LaMastus (Maumee, OH/Anthony Wayne), Nathan Sponenberg (Bloomsburg, PA/Central Columbia), Paul Tuttle (Irondequoit, NY/Irondequoit) and Colby Watkins (New Orleans, LA/St. Martin's Episcopal) won with a time of 1:29.51, edging Hartwick's A-team time of 1:29.79. The win, along with the Saxon B-team of Noam Sokolovsky (East Lyme, CT/East Lyme), Aidan Kirk (Lockport, NY/Starpoint), Jordan Fixsen (Penfield, NY/Penfield) and Giuseppe Piede (Dunellen, NJ/St. Peter's Prep) taking third place away from the Hawk's B-team with a time of 1:37.04 (defeating the time of 1:38.49), secured the win and the season sweep over conference opponents.
 
"It's always great to win a meet, especially when you can do it in the last event," Head Coach Brian Striker '00 said. "Having the whole thing be close all the way through, made it quite exciting. It was a great way to cap off three meets in five day for the week. Hartwick always brings their best and does well against us."
 
It's the first time since 2008-09 that the AU men swept their Empire 8 opponents during the season as the Saxons were 9-1 and 5-0 in conference action. It is also the first time AU defeated Hartwick since the 2014-15 season, defeating the Hawks, 145-143 on January 17 in a home meet.
 
AU's relays only dropped one race on the week to Division II Le Moyne College as they also won the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:38.88 on Saturday against Hartwick with the combination of William, Wade LaMastus (Maumee, OH/Anthony Wayne), Fernando Lagos (Tegucigalpa, Honduras/Escuela e Instituo Lincoln) and Alessandro Lagos Canales (Tegucigalpa, Honduras/Escuela e Instituo Lincoln).
 
The trio of Tuttle, Phillip Volaski (Poughquag, NY/Arlington) and Sponenberg swept the top three spots in the 100-yard backstroke as well as the 200-yard backstroke. Tuttle won the 100-back with a time of 55.95, while Volaski won the 200-back with a time of 2:04.69.
 
Colin Schultz (Spencerport, NY/Spencerport) followed the 100-back trio with a win in the 100-yard breaststroke, clocking a 1:02.97 and was followed closely by Wade in second place with a time of 1:03.85. Schultz and Wade, just like the backstroke trio, repeated as first and second place finishers in the 200-yard breaststroke. Schultz swam a 2:18.47 while Wade clocked 2:22.64.
 
Watkins won the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 22.05.
 
"We're very tired and it was hard for some of them to finish races. Our divers did the best that I've seen them. I can't wait to see what they all do next!"
 
Prior to the meet, seniors Lucas Crane (Queensbury, NY/Queensbury), Schultz, Max Sereno (Victor, NY/Victor), Gregory Simonian (Grand Island, NY/Canisius) and R.J. Zellner (Wallingford, CT/Mark T. Sheehan) were honored as Saturday's meet was their final meet in McLane during their collegiate careers.
 
The Saxons will next close out their dual-meet schedule when they travel to Ithaca College on Saturday, January 21 at 1:00pm. After that, they turn towards their taper season before the Empire 8 Championships at Webster Aquatics Center, starting February 15.