Men’s Swimming Bested By USMMA – Stevens Institute of Technology Athletics

Throggs Neck, N.Y. – The Stevens Institute of Technology men’s swim team was topped by the United States Merchant Marine Academy 169-65 on Saturday afternoon.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Ducks opened the day with a third-place time in the 200-medley relay. The foursome of Angel Velasquez, Lukas Mikulenas, Deo Bove, and Edward Platonov registered a time of 1:37.46, missing second by .08 seconds. Ryan Ward claimed third in the 1,000-freestyle, notching a mark of 10:38.21, with Platonov taking third in the 200-free (1:47.81). The senior was just .31 out of first and .06 out of second.

Velasquez (22.9) and Gailen Davis (21.18) were third and fourth in the 50-free, as Bove was third in the 200-IM in 2:03.01. The junior Bove also recorded a second-place time of 52.91 in the 100-fly, with Joe Sparshott finishing fourth in 55.68. Platonov was edged out of first place by .04 in the 100-free, settling for a second-place mark of 49.47. Ethan Emerton (56.53), Daniel Shemetov (58.94), and Kerem Dogruer (1:04.68) went 2-3-4 in the 100-back, as Andrew Gaba (5:09.6) and Will Stibor (5:17.06) went 2-3 in the 500-freestyle.

Mikulenas capped off the individual events with a second-place time of 1:00.82 in the 100-breaststroke, with James Johnson (1:02.5) and Jason Scheckner (1:03.22) sliding in behind him. The Ducks closed the day with the second and third-best times in the 200-freestyle relay. Stibor, Davis, Jack Martinek, and Shemetov were second in 1:30.17 as Liam Rodgers, Andy Kolecki, and Justin Lee were third in 1:35.94.

FROM THE POOL DECK (Head Coach Adam Schneider)

• “Overall a nice way to end the semester of racing. With an illness sweeping through the Men’s team, even on our best day would have had a challenging time against USMMA. So, for the men this meet was less about winning and more about having some fun racing, which I think we accomplished. We had some people in their main events which went well, but also were able to get people some races they maybe hadn’t raced yet this year so it was nice for some people to get a chance to swim around a bit. With the semester of racing behind us, we look forward to after finals where we will get in our most intense training of the year before preparing for MACs.”

UP NEXT
After Winter Break, the Ducks return home for the final two meets of the season. They open a two-day meet against Salisbury on January 17, with action underway at noon inside the DeBaun Aquatic Center.