By Jim Fenton
WELLESLEY, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University men's swimming & diving set three school records and won two individual and a pair of relay races at the Little East Conference Championships Saturday.
With one day remaining in the four-day meet, the Bears are in first place with 606 points, ahead of Maine Maritime Academy with 583.5 points.
Senior Desmond Ng (Petaling Jaya, Malaysia) and junior Aaron Fowler (Brookline, Mass.) were the individual winners for BSU.
Ng set a meet record by winning the 100-yard breaststroke in 57.33 seconds to earn All-Little East honors.
Fowler was the winner in the 50 butterfly in 22.55 seconds for all-conference honors.
Junior Jirat Saengthong (Watertown, Mass.) set a BSU record when he finished second in the 200 freestyle in 1:45.80. Saengthong eclipsed the previous mark of 1:46.39 set by Jameson Rose in 2017.
The 200 medley relay team of senior Ryan McKenzie (Charlton, Mass.), Ng, Fowler and Saengthong won in 1:33.94 to set a BSU and meet record. The quarter eclipsed the Bears' previous mark of 1:34.53 recorded by Sean Flaherty, Dylon Willis, Jameson Rose and Giulian Santos in 2019.
The 800 freestyle relay team of Saengthong, Ng, freshman Wilco Zbitnoff (Haverhill, Mass.) and freshman James Hein (Holliston, Mass.) also broke the BSU and meet records with a time of 7:10.86. The foursome eclipsed the previous BSU mark of 7:12.05 set by Jameson Rose, Giulian Santos, Max Medina and Richard Smith in 2018.
The Bears had two other All-Little East performers in the 100 breaststroke behind Ng.
McKenzie finished second in 1:00.18 while Hein was third in 1:00.40.
Junior Drew Lawrence (Winchendon, Mass.) earned all-conference honors in the 400 individual medley, finishing third in 4:28.29.
Also an All-Little East performer was Zbitnoff, who placed third in the 100 backstroke in 34.70.
The top three placewinners in each individual event as well as the relays garner All-Little East honors.
Senior Robbie Soucy (Fyre Island, Maine) took sixth in the 1-meter diving with 255.45 points.
In the 400 individual medley behind Lawrence were senior Jacob Jope (East Freetown, Mass.), who was sixth in 4:49.09, and freshman Leo Hachem (New Bedford, Mass.), who was seventh in 4:51.48.
Freshman Kaua De Assis (Vineyard Haven, Mass.) placed sixth in the 50 butterfly in 24.04 and senior Oliver Taradash (Dartmouth, Mass.) was sixth in the 200 freestyle in 1:53.89.
Junior Sean Taylor (South Dennis, Mass.) finished seventh in the 1,000 freestyle in 11:22.67 while junior Nathan Barnes (Billerica, Mass.) was eighth in the 100 backstroke.
The preliminary races on the final day start at 10 a.m. on Sunday with the finals at 4:00 p.m.
