Men's Swimming & Diving | 2/18/2019 1:06:00 PM
ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT men's swimming and diving team will compete at the 2019 Liberty League Championship from the Kelsey Partridge Bird Natatorium at th Ithaca College Athletics and Events Center. The four-day meet begins on Wednesday, Feb. 20 and ends on Saturday, Feb. 23. Preliminary action begins each day at 10 a.m. with the finals getting underway at 6 p.m.
RIT enters the meet having finished the regular season with a 6-3 record in dual competitions, while winning the Don Richards Invitational on Nov. 30-Dec. 1. The Tigers will look to equal or better last season's second place finish at the Liberty League Championships.
RIT has a host of swimmers who will be counted to score. Sophomore
Eric Moss (Irvington, NY/Irvington) led RIT with 198 points during the season with 12 wins and nine second place finishes. He is RIT's fastest swimmer in the 50-yard butterfly (25.12 seconds), 100-yard butterfly (53.65 seconds), 200-yard butterfly (1:54.89), 200-yard freestyle (1:46.85), 500-yard freestyle (4:51.05) and 1,650-yard freestyle (17:04.77).
Senior
Joe Wang (Framingham, MA/Framingham) is a top contender in the distance freestyle events. He is RIT's top performer in the 1,000-yard freestyle (10:12.88), is right behind Moss in both the 500- and 1,650-freestyle events. Wang enters the league championship having recorded 18 top-three finishes in 2018-19, with five wins. He is also a solid contributor in the 200-yard butterfly and 400-yard individual medley. Junior Jimmy Antonelli will also look to contribute in all three distance events.
Freshman
Will Brown (Boulder, CO/Fairview) is RIT's top performer in both the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle events. Brown, who has 16 top-three finishes in 2018-19, swam 21.70 in the 50-free and 48.86 in the 100-free. Junior
Ben Metzger (Webster, NY/Webster Thomas) has top times of 21.81 in the 50-free and 48.89 in the 100-free. Sophomore
Braden Feasley (Hamburg, NY/Hamburg) had 11 top-three finishes during the year and will also be a strong contender in all three sprint freestyle events. Junior
Mark Truskinovsky (Williamsville, NY/Williamsville North) won five races during the season and can be counted on to score in freestyle events as well.
Senior
Derek Rothrock (Ashburn, VA/Briar Woods) is RIT's top swimmer in the backstroke events. He has three wins and six runner-up finishes this season and has top times of 25.29 seconds in the 50-yard backstroke, 55.17 seconds in the 100-yard backstroke, and 2:02.55 in the 200-yard backstroke. Sophomore
Tyler Schwarz (Stanley, NY/Marcus Whitman), junior
Nicholas Trumper (Richmond, VT/Mount Mansfield Union) and senior
Scott Brink (Quincy, MA/Boston College) will also look to contribute in the backstroke.
Freshman
Brendan Kapp (Springfield, VA/Trinity School) is a top contributor in both the breaststroke and individual medley events. Kapp, who has five wins and 15 top-three finishes this season, is RIT's leader in the 50-yard breaststroke (29.76 seconds), 200-yard breaststroke (2:13.97), 200-yard individual medley (2:01.82) and 400-yard medley relay (4:26.11).
Senior
Carl Schlehr (Maineville, OH/Kings) has RIT's top time in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:01.24) and is a top contender in the 200-yard breaststroke. Sophomore Will Seifried is one of RIT's top performers in the butterfly and individual medley events. He has 11 top-three finishes this season.
Senior
Tom Regan (Hollis, NH/Hollis Brookline), sophomore Thomas Richter, junior
Adam Reitz (Hilton, NY/Hilton) and freshmen
Keanu Pagano (Oxnard, CA/Oxnard),
Ethan Davis (Sinking Spring, PA/Wilson) and Matthew Ciminelli will all look to score points for RIT.
As always, RIT's relay teams will be counted on to excel with each school record in jeopardy. RIT has season-best times of 1:26.46 in the 200-yard freestyle relay, 3:14.23 in the 400-yard freestyle relay, 1:35.98 in the 200-yard medley relay and 3:35.84 in the 400-yard medley relay this season.
On the diving board, sophomore
Jon Bauer (Fairview, PA/McDowell) is RIT's top scorer in in the 1-meter six dive (259.64), 3-meter six dive (260.60). 1-meter 11 dive events (368.65) and 3-meter 11 dive events (363.45). He scored 108 points during the regular season. Senior
Chase Van Duyne (Auburn, NY/Auburn) is right behind Bauer in all four events, including a 1-meter 11 dive high score of 348.55 to score 91 points.
The Tigers will have several student-athletes in the mix for NCAA Championship berths. The NCAA Championship will take place from March 20-23 at the Greensboro Aquatic Center in Greensboro, N.C.
