Results (PDF)

Washington, DC – The Drew University men's swimming & diving team claimed its season opener in a nailbiter, earning a 146.5-145.5 victory over defending Landmark Conference champion Catholic University on Saturday.
 
The Rangers led 140.5-134.5 heading into the final event, the 200-freestyle relay. The Cardinals won the race to earn 11 points, but Drew finished second to pick up four points before the B team secured the meet with a third-place finish and the two points that go with it. The A team consisted of freshman Brendan Burkett, junior Luke Stevens, senior Harrison Neal, and senior Josh Roberts while the B squad was made up of junior Marco Niro, senior Jeffrey Crouse, junior Finn Armitt, and sophomore Yan Zheng Lew.
 
Lew and sophomore Hayden Koh won three events apiece to lead the Rangers. Koh captured the 100-backstroke (51.37), the 200-backstroke (1:54.30), and the 200-IM (1:58.12). He prevailed by four seconds in the 100-back and nine seconds in the 200-back.
 
Lew was just as impressive, posting an 18-second win in the 1,000-freestyle. He also touched first in the 100-butterfly (54.70) and the 200-butterfly (2:02.51).
 
The Rangers finished 1-2-3 in the two distance events, with Lew leading the sweep in the 1,000. He was followed by sophomore CJ Talerico (10:41.27) and senior Henry Van Note (10:52.73). Armitt captured the 500-freestyle in 5:05.62 while Talerico (5:10.03) and Neal (5:11.52) were second and third, respectively.
 
Crouse also pocketed an individual victory, winning the 200-freestyle in 1:48.69. He was followed by Armitt (1:50.13) in second place.
 
Other runner-up finishes were turned in by Roberts in both the 50-freestyle (22.20) and 100-freestyle (49.56), freshman Gabe Spivak in the 200-breaststroke (2:21.43), and Neal in the 200-IM (2:01.87).
 
The Rangers are back in action next Saturday, when they compete at Montclair State University in a dual meet starting at 1 p.m.