Bryant Men’s Swim & Dive Earns Top Ranking In NEC Preseason Poll

Courtesy: Northeast Conference

Somerset, NJ — For the second consecutive year Bryant has been selected by a unanimous vote to take home the NEC Men’s Swimming & Diving Championship crown.

The Bulldogs, who won the inaugural NEC title last spring, were followed in the 2021-22 poll by LIU, last year’s runner-up. Mount St. Mary’s took third with Howard following to take the fourth-place spot. St. Francis Brooklyn and Wagner rounded out the poll in that order, respectively. This will be Howard’s first year as an NEC associate member and Wagner’s first year sponsoring the sport.

Katie Cameron will lead the Bryant men’s team for the second year in a row. She is in her 17th year of coaching for the Bulldogs women’s program with four NEC Coach of the Year Awards to her credit.

Bryant’s returnees to watch this season include last year’s NEC Outstanding Swimmer award winner and four-time NEC Swimmer of the Week Matthew Mays (St. Croix, Virgin Islands/Good Hope Country Day). Last season Mays set a pool, program and championship record in the 200-meter backstroke (1:44.06), an NCAA B Cut qualifying time. The senior also earned gold in the 200 IM (1:48.21) and the 100 back (48.17) and helped lead the Bulldogs to gold in the 200 free and 200 medley relays. Classmate FuKang Wong (Johor, Malaysia/British International School (Southern Illinois)) will be returning for another season with the Bulldogs. Wong won gold in the 200-meter breaststroke (1:59.98) and silver in the 100-meter breaststroke (54.57) at the 2021 NEC Championship. Also back in the fold for Bryant are the reigning NEC Co-Divers of the Meet Drew Arnold (South Windsor, CT/South Windsor) and Evan Clark (Doylestown, PA/Central Bucks East). Arnold, a junior won the 1-meter competition and Clark, a senior, won gold in the 3-meter event.

The 2022 NEC Men’s & Women’s Swimming Championships will take place from February 22 to February 26 at Spire in Geneva, OH.

Full Preseason Poll

1. Bryant (unanimous)
2. LIU
3. (tie) Howard / Mount St. Mary’s/ St. Francis (NY)
4. –
5. –
6. Wagner