The Saxons (0-1, 0-0 Empire 8) fell by a score of 152.5-143.5 as the meet came down to the last race. The team of Emmanuel Drappatz (Pittsburgh, PA/Fox Chapel Area), Sean Killian (Kenmore, NY/St. Joseph's Collegiate Institution), Keagen Winkky (Horseheads, NY/Horseheads) and Uros Stojic (Niš, Serbia/Prva niška gimnazija Stevan Sremac) finished third in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:30.65, ending the meet just short of the victory. "It is always difficult to gauge where we are in readiness going into the first dual meet. It doesn't make anything easier when your first is against a top-tier team like RIT," Head Coach Brian Striker '00 said. "We have some talent and we front-loaded our lineup to see how far we could take it. We came out of the gate strong today and our team energy was great. It was great to come from behind in the last leg of the 200 MR to secure a win to start the meet. It was a tight meet from that point on…never getting away from either of us. We broke several pool records and were .01 from a school record tonight. They swam fast, faster than I would have expected given where we are in the season and Jaxson [McQuaid] dove as well as he ever has. Based on what I saw today, I'm excited for this program moving forward. I think it'll be a fun and successful season for them with a lot of great things in front of us!"

 

The Saxons began the season with a last-second win in the 200-yard medley relay as Youssef amr Abdallatif (Cairo, Egypt), Carlos Gonzalez (Baja California, Mexico/Unifront), Andre Ayala (Mexico City, Mexico/Preparatoria No°5) and Calem Striker (Hornell, NY/Hornell) picked up the win, combining for a time of 1:36.26, reaching the wall first ahead of RIT's team time of 1:36.55. The next men's event in the pool was the 1,000-yard freestyle where Ayala won with a time of 9:59.73, just over eight second away from a pool record. 

 

Abdallatif went on to win three more times in individual events, first with the 100-yard backstroke, clocking a time of 50.47, breaking the McLane Natatorium pool record of 51.90, held by Hall of Famer Matt Baker '09 and was 0.02 away from breaking Baker's school record. He then won the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:53.85, breaking yet another pool record of 1:54.55 held by Hartwick's Matt Plunkett, set in 2015. Abdallatif wasn't done yet as he broke ANOTHER pool record in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 51.39, breaking Hall of Famer Rick Stakel '94 and his 1991 time of 51.66. 

 

Ayala added to the pool records being broken as he clocked a winning time of 4:44.19 in the 500-yard freestyle, breaking Baker's time of 4:48.26 set in 2009 and also won the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:55.26, breaking the pool record of 1:55.89, set by Ithaca College's Lucas Zelehowsky in 2015. Gonzalez broke the 2009 pool record of 58.61 held by Hall of Famer Brian Agro '09 with a new time of 58.20. He went on to win the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:10.42 and the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 1:59.68. 

 

Striker won the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 22.39. 

 

The Saxons will next host Roberts Wesleyan University on Wednesday, October 22 at 4:00pm.