Men's Swimming & Diving Sweeps Senior Day Tri-Meet

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University men's swimming & diving team won 11 of 13 events as the Bears cruised to a Senior Day sweep of a tri-match against Clark University and Little East foe Plymouth State University on Saturday at the Moriarty Pool.

The Bears wrapped up the dual-meet portion of the season with an overall record of 4-4.

Nine different student-athletes either won events or were part of winning relays for the Bears who posted a 164-56 win over Clark and a 185-17 victory Plymouth State.

Senior Desmond Ng (Petaling Jaya, Malaysia), senior Ryan McKenzie (Charlton, Mass.), junior Jirat Saengthong (Watertown, Mass.), senior Richard Palanza (Mansfield, Mass.) opened the day with a win in the 200 medley relay as the foursome posted a time of 1:40.45.

The quartet of senior Jacob Jope (East Freetown, Mass.), Saengthong, freshman Leo Hachem (New Bedford, Mass.) and Palanza wrapped up the day with a win in the 200 freestyle relay (1:32.58).

Ng also placed first in the 200 freestyle (1:51.23) and the 100 breaststroke (1:00.96), while Saengthong was the first to touch the wall in the 100 individual medley (56.84) and Jope captured top honors in the 100 butterfly (55.22).

Senior Robbie Soucy (Frye Island, Maine) swept the diving events posting scores of 157.15 on the one-meter board and 195.95 points on the three-meter.

Freshman Wilco Zbitnoff (Haverhill, Mass.) won a pair of events as the rookie recorded first-place times of 23.02 seconds in the 50 freestyle and 56.84 seconds in the 100 backstroke.

Freshman James Hein (Holliston, Mass.) rounded out the Bears' first-place performers. Hein won the 100 freestyle in 50.30 seconds. He was also third in the 100-yard breaststroke.

Senior Oliver Taradash (North Dartmouth, Mass.) was second in the 200-yard freestyle in 1:59.36 and  third in the 100-yard butterfly in 1:00.91.

Freshman Kaua De Assis (Vineyard Haven, Mass.) was second in the 50-yard freestyle in 23.05 and second in the 100-yard butterfly in 56.28 seconds.

McKenzie finished second in the 100-yard individual medley in 57.53 and second in the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:03.86.

Hachem was a second-place finisher in the 100-yard freestyle in 51.96.

Third-place finishers included junior Drew Lawrence (Winchendon, Mass.) in the 1,000-yard freestyle and the 100-yard backstroke, Palanza in the 50-yard freestyle and junior Nathan Barnes (Billerica, Mass.) in the 100-yard freestyle.

Two other BSU relay teams placed second and two finished third. Zbitnoff, Hein, Deassis and Hachem finished second in the 200 medley relay (1:42.63); sophomores Oleksandr Lysyi (Boston, Mass.) and Dylan Kelley (Foxborough, Mass.), senior Brendan Goff (Plainville, Mass.) and Taradash were second in the 200 freestyle relay (1:39.00); junior Nathan Barnes (Billerica, Mass.), Jope, Lysyi and freshman Sean Miller (Wilbraham, Mass.) finished third in the 200 medley relay (1:47.88); and freshman Anthony Pruciano (Edgartown, Mass.), Miller, junior Dane Connor (Andover, Mass.) and Lawrence were third in the 200 freestyle relay (1:40.16).

Prior to the start of the meet, the Bears honored seniors Ng, McKenzie, Palanza, Jope, Soucy, Taradash and Goff.