Men's Swimming & Diving Falls to Elms, 162-121

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – The visiting Elms College Blazers downed the host Bridgewater State University Bears, 162-121, in men's swimming & diving action on Wednesday afternoon at the Moriarty Pool.

The Blazers remain unbeaten in dual meet competition on the season as they improve to 5-0, while the Bears drop to 2-4.  For the meet, both teams wore special designed swim caps to honor the victims of the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut.

BSU senior Jay Schotter (Lincoln, R.I.) paced the host Bears with a victory in the 100 breaststroke as he posted a time of 1:09.01.  Sophomore David Elofson (Mansfield, Mass.) won both diving events with scores of 145.05 points on the one-meter board and 149.15 points on the three-meter.

Elms won 13 out of 16 events including 11 individual races and both relays.

The Blazers' 200 medley relay team of freshmen James Grippo (Longmeadow, Mass.), Ethan Etheridge (Pawtucket, R.I.), Kyle Murphy (Holyoke, Mass.) and Andrew Pioggia (East Longmeadow, Mass.) clocked a time of 1:52.46 to place first in the event.

Grippo added three individual first place finishes in the 50 backstroke (28.39), 200 backstroke (2:14.67) and the 500 freestyle (5:32.27), while freshman Stephen Lynch (Madison, Conn.) added a trio of top times in the 200 freestyle (1:54.97), the 100 butterfly (59.96) and the 100 freestyle (52.09).

Etheridge added two first place marks in the 50 breaststroke (30.38) and the 50 butterfly (26.74), and freshman Mikhail Kuyuzov (Swampscott, Mass.) won the 100 breaststroke (1:09.01) and the 100 individual medley (1:02.81).

Senior Mark Gehring (West Springfield, Mass.) won the 1,000 freestyle (11:41.18), while junior Aaron Starke (Chicopee, Mass.) clocked a time of 23.98 to secure first in the 50 freestyle.

The 200 medley relay squad of Lynch, Starke, Gehring and sophomore Niels Thomsen (Southington, Conn.) earned a first place finish with a time of 1:36.88 to close out the Blazers' highlights.

In upcoming action, the Bears travel to Boston College on Friday afternoon for a tri-match with the host Eagles along with Brandeis University.  The meet is slated to get underway at one.  The Blazers visit Mount Saint Mary College on Saturday at one.