WEBSTER, NY – The Alfred University men's swimming & diving team finished up Day Three of the Allegheny Empire Championships at the Webster Aquatic Center on Friday evening.
The Saxons are in third place overall and are second within the Empire 8 with 669 points overall. They sit 37 points behind Hartwick who leads the way in the Empire 8 competition.
The 400-yard medley relay team of Colby Watkins (New Orleans, LA/St. Martin's Episcopal), Wade LaMastus (Maumee, OH/Anthony Wayne), William LaMastus (Maumee, OH/Anthony Wayne), and Emmanuel Drappatz (Pittsburgh, PA/Fox Chapel Area) earned second place overall and were first place against Empire 8 opponents, becoming Empire 8 Champions and earning All-Empire 8 First Team in that event. They swam a 3:27.48, beating out Hartwick College by over a full second.
The B-team of Emiliano Terrazas (La Paz, Bolivia/Saint Andrew's), Alessandro Lagos Canales (Tegucigalpa, Honduras/Escuela e Instituo Lincoln), Paul Tuttle (Irondequoit, NY/Irondequoit) and Fernando Lagos (Tegucigalpa, Honduras/Escuela e Instituo Lincoln) finished first in the early finals heat. They earned 22 points to go with the A-team's 42 points with a time of 3:33.58.
On the diving side, Ryan Way (Penfield, NY/Penfield) finished fourth overall and second among the Empire 8 in 1-meter diving. His score of 366.30 earned him his second All-Empire 8 Second Team Honor. Deaglan Doyle (Sea Cliff, NY North Shore) and Oleh Zhuk (Lviv, Ukraine/Shawnee High School) finished ninth and tenth respectively to tack on 14 and 13 points along with Way's 18 points.
The Saxons had four athletes qualify for A-finals in the 100-yard backstroke including Phillip Volaski (Poughquag, NY/Arlington), Nathan Sponenberg (Bloomsburg, PA/Central Columbia), Will LaMastus, and Paul Tuttle. Will LaMastus finished second overall and first among Empire 8 competitors to earn an individual Empire 8 title and an All-Empire 8 First Team Recognition. He swam a time of 52.02. Paul Tuttle was close behind, coming in fourth overall and second among the Empire 8, which got him a All-Empire 8 Second Team Honor.
Will LaMastus finished fifth in A-Finals the 400-yard IM with a time of 4:14.20. This earned LaMastus All-Empire 8 Second Team in the event. Jordan Annlee (Henrietta, NY/ Rush-Henrietta) also made B-Finals in the 400-yard IM.
In the 100-yard Butterfly, Colby Watkins finished second overall in the event with a time of 51.58. This earned him another All-Empire 8 Second Team for the meet. Giuseppe Piede (Dunellen, NJ/St. Peter's Prep) and Fernando Lagos also made A-finals. Lucas Ryan (Columbus, OH St. Charles Preparatory) and Nathan Sponenberg both qualified for B-finals in the event.
Drappatz was the lone Saxon to qualify for A-finals in the 200-yard freestyle and finished sixth with a time of 1:48.01. Alessandro Lagos also qualified for B-finals.
Wade LaMastus and Terrazas both qualified for A-finals in the 100-yard breaststroke and finished back-to-back in the event in fifth and sixth respectively. Aidan Kirk (Lockport, NY/Starpoint) also qualified for B-finals.
AU will compete in time trials to start individual pool events tomorrow morning at 10:00am with finals slated to start later in the evening at 5:00pm as they return for the final day of the Allegheny Empire Swimming & Diving Championships.
