WEBSTER, NY – The Alfred University men's swimming & diving team completed day two of the Empire 8 championship meet at the Webster Aquatic Center on Thursday.
The Saxons currently hold fourth place with a total of 265 points.
Andre Ayala (Mexico, City/Preparatoria No°5) once again kicked off the finals strong for AU as he delivered a time of 1:41.77, finishing second place and adding 17 points to the team in the 200-yard freestyle. This time is a personal best and ranks as the fourth fastest in program history.
Calem Striker (Hornell, NY/Hornell) finished in eighth place, clocking in at 1:46.30.
Sean Killian (Kenmore, NY/St. Joseph's Collegiate Institution) and
Emmanuel Drappatz (Pittsburgh, PA/Fox Chapel Area) finished right behind each other in the consolation, recording 1:49.27 and 1:50.89, respectively.
In the 100-yard butterfly,
Seif Asaad (Cairo, Egypt/Stanford) registered 53.92 for an eight-place finish. Four Saxons competed in the consolation final, led by
Keagan Winkky (Horseheads, NY/Horseheads) with a time of 54.60.
Michael Blitzer (New York, NY/The Smith School) followed in at 55.32,
Zeke Doerner (Webster, NY/Webster Schroeder) touched in 56.56 and
Lungile Raditladi (Gaborone, Botswana/Enko Botho) finished in 58.23.
Carlos Gonzalez (Baja, California, Mexico/Unifront) dominated the 400-yard individual medley as he finished a full three seconds ahead of second place, beating his previous program record with a time of 3:59.51.
Douglas Bryson (Bath, NY/Haverling) smashed his personal best of 5:10.58, delivering a 4:46.74 in the consolation.
In the closing 200-yard freestyle relay, the Saxons saw the A-team of Drappatz, Winkky, Killian and Ayala clock 1:27.27 for fourth place in the championship final. A B-team of Asaad,
Nino Barry-Negron (Syracuse, NY/Milton Hershey),
Uros Stojic (Niš, Serbia/Prva niška gimnazija Stevan Sremac) and
Mahmoud Elkady (Cairo, Egypt/Smart City) combined for a fourth-place time of 1:30.99.
Alfred University will compete next in the time trials for prelims on Friday, February 20 morning at 10:00am with finals slated to begin later in the evening at 5:30pm.
--Swords Forward Saxons--
