Courtesy: Towson Athletics
NEWARK, Del. — Putting the final touches on a strong dual meet season, the Towson University men’s swimming and diving team picked up its fifth-straight win over the University of Delaware.
The Tigers topped their longtime rivals 164.5-123.5 behind 11 individual and relay wins. Rookie Brian Benzing capped his first dual season unblemished in the 100-yard breaststroke events this spring.
How it Happened
- Evan Bota, Benzing, Nick McClure and Michael Fazio started the day strong with a 1-minute, 31.52 second win during the 200-yard medley relay, which was followed by a Fazio victory in the 200-yard freestyle. Fazio won the event by three seconds, halting the time in 1:40.79, nipping Delaware’s Bryce Ciecko in 1:43.47.
- Bota picked up three points in the 100-yard backstroke with a 52.74, less than a quarter second faster than teammate Reed Sells, who grabbed two points with a 52.95.
- In the 100-yard breaststroke, Benzing cruised to a three-second victory with a 55.29, winning by more than three seconds. His time stands as the fourth-fastest time in program history. Benzing now owns the four fastest times for the event at Towson.
- McClure continued the momentum with his 1:52.58 win in the 200-yard butterfly, which paired with Coby Ockert’s two points for a fourth-place finish in 1:58.40.
- Sprinter Ryan Baldino added another 50-yard freestyle win with a 20.67, less than half a second quicker than teammate TJ Bearor in third place (22.03).
- Will Canny won his final dual meet 1-meter diving event, scoring a 250.40. The diving portion of the meet was held Friday afternoon at Rawstrom Natatorium. Ajani Dorner took second with a 240.00.
- Out of the intermission, Baldino and Fazio went one-two in the 100-yard freestyle, the former touching in 45.64 and the latter in 45.69.
- The 200-yard backstroke was a tight finish with Sells taking second in 1:54.23, narrowly trailing Delaware’s Zach Rowe (1:53.62). Brendan Farrar added points for the Tigers with a third-place time of 1:57.47.
- Towson once again went first and third in the 200-yard breaststroke, with Benzing taking the win at 2:02.39 followed by a 2:10.70 from Ryan Bookstein for three more points.
- McClure snagged four points in second with a 51.12 in the 100-yard fly, one tenth of his season best.
- Canny swept the boards on Friday, taking the 3-meter as well with a 250.00 with Dorner in second with a 240.00.
- Towson added some buffer space in its score during the 100-yard freestyle as Baldino and Fazio went one-two with a 45.64 and a 45.69, respectively.
- Noah Diacumakos and Patrick Flint picked up another one-two finish for the 400-yard individual medley. Diacumakos finished in 4:07.53 while Flint was close behind at 4:10.96.
- The Tiger men finished the day with a win as Benzing, Baldino, Bearor and Fazio combined to win the 400-yard freestyle relay. The group won with a 3:02.09, a three-second margin of victory. The group shattered the pool record for the event, which was previously a 3:04.60 set by a UMBC relay team on Oct. 19, 2019.
- Both relays broke Rawstrom Natatorium records as the 200-yard medley relay’s time of 1:31.52 broke the previous mark of 1:31.86 set by a Delaware group in December.
Quotables – Head Coach Jake Shrum
- Brian Benzing, Ryan Baldino and Michael Fazio continue to lead our team with consistently fast swims in their primary events. We also got key event wins from Nick McClure and Noah Diacumakos.
- Overall we were really happy with how we swam our races and the team couldn’t be happier heading to start resting and getting ready for the CAA Championship.
Up Next for Towson
- With the dual season in the rearview mirror, Towson turns its eyes to the CAA Championship meet.
- The league championships are set to begin on March 30 in Christiansburg, Virginia.
NEWARK, Del. — In the final dual meet of an abbreviated 2020-21 season, the Towson University women’s swimming and diving program was edged 182-118 against Delaware on Saturday at Rawstrom Natatorium.
Towson (2-2) picked up four wins in total, opening the day with a relay win followed by a one-two finish in the 1,650-yard freestyle from Meagan Clark and Karlee Carminati.
How it Happened
- The group of Hailey Ritter, Tiffany Matulis, Andrea Ducar and Parker Schulz won the opening 200-yard medley relay with a two-second margin, touching in 1 minute, 47.55 seconds. Towson’s B relay of Elise Devlin, Shay Walker, Liz Jones and Maddie Mince finished third in 1:50.27.
- In the next event, the 1,650 freestyle, Clark won the event in her first time swimming it this season, reaching the final wall in 17:39.01. Carminati took second, stopping the clock at 17:43.40.
- Later in the program, Devlin continued her run of wins in the 100-yard backstroke, taking the win with a 58.51, edging Delaware’s Audrey Duvall by a quarter second. Julia Ali took third for Towson in her first appearance in the event with a time of 59.07.
- Samantha Casolo picked up four points for the Tigers with a second-place finish in the 200-yard butterfly, touching in 2:08.17.
- Ritter added nine Towson points with her sprint win in the 50-free, winning by just over a 10th of a second at 24.45. Mince (24.98) and Walker (25.32) went third and fourth, respectively.
- On the 1-meter board, Sarah DiGaetano took third with a season-best 254.85.
- Devlin (2:06.10), Suzannah Mills (2:08.09) and Maddie Frick (2:10.88) went two-three-four in the 200-yard backstroke, followed by a 2:27.44 second-place finish from Kasey Gamache in the 200-yard breaststroke.
- In the 500-yard freestyle, Carminati was just four seconds off the winning mark, taking second in 5:12.29. Mira Selling won the event for Delaware, touching in 5:08.23.
- The Tiger quad of Mince, Schulz, Ritter and Victoria Dichak took second in the 400-yard freestyle relay to cap the 2021 dual meet season. The group finished in 3:37.54.
Quotable – Head Coach Jake Shrum
- We got off to a pretty good start with our 200-yard medley relay and Meagan Clark leading our mile performers. But we seemed to be on the wrong side of a lot of the races that looked like they’d be close going into the meet.
- We’ll need a couple more people to start being able to win events before we’re competitive with the best teams in our conference.
Up Next for Towson
- For most of the team, the Tigers’ sights are set on the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Championships, which begin March 30 in Christiansburg, Virginia.
- One diver, Tina Coleman, will head to the Greensboro Aquatics Center next week for the NCAA Zone Diving Meet on March 11.
Courtesy: Delaware Athletics
NEWARK, Del. – The University of Delaware swimming & diving teams played host to CAA foe Towson Saturday afternoon with the women earning a 182-118 victory, while the men fell in a 164.5-123.5 decision in Rawstrom Natatorium.
It snapped a 17-meet losing streak for the Blue Hen women against the Tigers, with the last Delaware win coming Jan. 7, 2006 in Newark.
“We had a fantastic showing this weekend, starting with our divers achieving three zone cuts and the swimming side who faced a tough opponent and delivered on every event,” said head coach Pablo Marmolejo. “We fought well throughout the meet and overall, we are happy with the results and the progress we have made.”
Freshman Rowan O’Sullivan was the winner of the 3-meter dive with a score of 280.45 and placed second in the 1-meter, qualifying for Zones in both events. Classmate Julia Servas took home the 1-meter to qualify with a score of 275.70.
Sophomore Mira Selling was as advertised, getting to the wall first in three events. She swam a time of 1:51.62 in the 200-yard freestyle, 51.81 in the 100 free and a 5:08.23 in the 500 free. Selling was also part of the 400-yard freestyle relay team that placed first, along with senior Audrey Duvall, sophomore Natalie Dobrzykowski, and freshman Nicole Chiappa.
Duvall was a big part of the Blue Hens’ effort as well, with wins in both the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:05.85 and the 400-yard IM in 4:33.23.
On the men’s side, freshman Andrew Taylor was able to contribute with a win in the 1650-yard freestyle, timing in a 16:25.50 and senior Bryce Ciecko was first to the wall in the 500-yard freestyle in 4:42.46.
The Blue Hens are back in the water March 12, hosting Drexel for the final dual meet of the season.
