In a meet full of Ranger wins, the most important was the men's team victory over Mount Saint Mary's 101-73 on Friday night. The Rangers won 15 of the 22 events, but were forced to swallow a tough loss on the women's side as Mt. St. Mary's superior numbers helped the visitors squeeze out a 93-87 win. John Feniello, Kati Eggert and Jeroen Fabricant each won two events in the meet.
The Ranger women's medley team got the meet started in exciting fashion. The Rangers were trailing by half of a body length when senior Selena Davis entered the pool as the free and final leg of the relay. Davis caught the Blue Knight anchor leg mid-way through the first lap and pulled away with 10 meters left in the home stretch to touch first by less than one second thanks to her 25.55 leg.
Drew's men's relay team was able to grab all 11 points as well, mostly because they were unopposed in the 200 Medley Relay. As Drew's men's team was searching for its first win in three seasons, every point was welcome.
The Rangers picked up nine more points thanks to Jeroen Fabricant's strong 1000 Free performance. Fabricant passed Brian Heitman around the 28th lap in the 1000 Free before building a four second lead by the 33rd lap. By the bell lap, Fabricant had taken a commanding lead before winning with an 11:28.10, nearly seven seconds ahead of Heitman.
Davis picked up another win with a strong second 100 in the women's 200 Free. Trailing after two laps, Davis cruised by the Blue Knight in front of her to win pulling away with a time of 2:09.72.
John Feniello followed Davis' lead in the men's 200 Free. The junior trailed for much of the race in his lane three to Ryan Carroll in lane two. With just one and a half laps left, Feniello still remained half of a body length back, but caught his opponent by the end wall and pulled away in the final 15 yards to touch at 1:58.51, a full second ahead of his opponent. The time is Feniello's PR and cracks Drew's All-Time Top 10 in the event.
Kati Eggert continued the win parade for the Rangers by leading a one-two sweep and crushing her 50 Free event. The junior swam a 26.90, her best time of the season for the win. Katie Lyons took second place with a 29.17, though the Blue Knights were able to pick up six points in the event with the final three finishers. In the men's 50 Free, Walter Bakun used a powerful second 25 to take the race in 24.17, breaking his season-best time and recording the Rangers' best time in three seasons.
The Blue Knights won the next two women's events to pull closer to the Rangers in the overall score as Brianna Perazella won the 200 IM and Jamie Testa won the 100 Fly. The MSM men's team won those same events through Enrique Naudy in both races, though Ulysses Baldwin-Beneich swam the first sub-1:00 100 Fly in the past three seasons at Drew.
Eggert picked up her second win of the meet in the 100 Free; again, the junior led the whole way while posting a time of 1:00.59. Though well off her Drew best of 57.77, Eggert's quality early season form bodes well for better results down the line.
Feniello was the next Ranger to pick up a second win. The junior captain took the lead in the third lap before pulling away in the final 50 yards to post a personal best of 53.45. Feniello picked up 21 points in three events with a three place showing in the 100 Back event that immediately followed this impressive 100 Free.
First-year Lindsay Root put in a fine performance in the 100 Back to win another race for the Rangers. Fresh off the soccer field, Root led for most of the race while posting a 1:07.39. Sofia Quintanar took third place for the Rangers, but the Blue Knights were able to collect three extra points at the back end of the race to remain within striking distance of the smaller Rangers squad.
In the men's 100 Back, Bakun held on to win with a couple of desperate strokes right at the end. He and MSM's Carroll were very tight throughout the race with Bakun taking a small lead during the final two laps. Carroll closed the gap and looked poise to pass Bakun before a few long reaching strokes got the Ranger the touch by less than one second.
The meet continued to go well for the Rangers, but Drew's women's team was in trouble as the Blue Knights racked up points in the bottom part of the placements. Perazella won her second race for MSM with a terrific 5:31.48 500 Free, though Root and Jasmine Prokscha took second and third in the event. Naudy won the 500 Free for the guests as well.
Though now looking at long odds to win the meet, the Rangers kept battling. In the 100 Breaststroke, Jasmine Prokscha and Sofia Quinatanar took first and second, respectively, with Katie Lyons placing fourth in her first attempt at the 100 Breaststroke at Drew. Fabricant and Baldwin-Beneich repeated the feat in the men's race by sweeping the top two spots while Jacob Grossman took fourth place.
At this point in the meet, the Rangers were leading by five points, 87-82, but all of their swimmers had swam in the maximum of four events so Drew was unable to place with its 200 Free Relay team. Of course, the Rangers' foursome easily won the event as an exhibition team with a time of 1:52.80 as three swimmers – Davis, Root and Eggert – each put in legs in the 27 second range. The Blue Knights took all 11 points to win the meet 93-87.
On the other hand, the men's team didn't even need a point from the 200 Free Relay to win its first meet in more than two full seasons, 101-73. In all, the Rangers won 15 of the 22 events with the women taking seven of the 11 races and the men winning eight of 11.
The Rangers get back in the pool on Saturday afternoon in the rescheduled meet at Drew against Lebanon Valley College at 1 pm.
Drew vs. Mt. St. Mary's
