Three School Records Fall as Men's Swimming & Diving Wins BSU Invitational

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- Three school records were broken as the Bridgewater State University men's swimming & diving team placed first at the BSU Invitational held on Saturday at the Dr. Mary Jo Moriarty Pool.

Bridgewater State won the meet with a score of 738 points. UMass Dartmouth finished second with 352 points, while Maine Maritime Academy (259 pts.) rounded out the top three. The Bears placed first in 17 of 19 events

The relay squad of senior Richard Smith (Milford, Mass.), sophomore Dylon Willis (Attleboro, Mass.), freshman Quinn McAlear (Norton, Mass.) and sophomore Sean Flaherty (North Andover, Mass.) opened the meet with a victory in the 200 medley relay as the foursome posted a school-record time of 1:35.96. They eclipsed the previous BSU mark of 1:36.57 set last season.

Smith captured top honors in the 400 individual medley (4:13.47), the 200 breaststroke (2:09.97) and the 200 individual medley (1:58.48). He also eclipsed Hajime Yoshimura's 100 individual medley record of 55.04 seconds set back in 2003. Smith posted a time of 53.61 seconds in a time trial.

Willis was the first to touch the wall in the 100 breaststroke (58.88) and the 50 breaststroke (26.76). He broke his own previous 50 breaststroke record of 26.84 seconds set last season.

McAlear also won three individual events as he placed first in the 50 butterfly (24.11), 100 freestyle (50.24) and the 100 butterfly (55.36).

Junior Jameson Rose (Somerset, Mass.) posted winning times in the 100 backstroke (54.51), the 200 backstroke (2:00.01) and the 50 backstroke (25.49) events.

Sophomore Timucin Marino (East Greenwich, R.I.) won both the 200 butterfly (2:09.93) and 500 freestyle (5:15.07) events, while classmate Giulian Santos (Framingham, Mass.) placed first in the 50 freestyle (22.87) and junior Alexander Belinsky (Norton, Mass.) posted the top score on the three-meter diving board (232.60 pts.). 

Rose, Santos, Flaherty and McAlear wrapped up the scoring portion of the meet with a victory in the 400 freestyle relay as the quartet posted a time of 3:22.16.

The BSU swimming & diving teams are off until Saturday, January 6th when they travel to Elms College for a one o'clock meet with the Blazers.