Men's Swimming & Diving Too Much for Visiting Rider in 166-134 Triumph

Tuesday, January 19

Philadelphia, Pa.

6:00

Drexel University

166

134

Rider

Adrian Sabovici won the 1650 free and took second in the 500 free in Drexel's win over Rider

Men's Swimming & Diving Too Much for Visiting Rider in 166-134 Triumph

1/19/2010 9:34:18 PM | Men's Swimming & Diving

Meet Results

Philadelphia - Drexel men's swimming & diving improved to 3-1 at Drexel Pool as the Dragons dropped Rider, 166-134, in a non-conference meet. Sherif Madkour was victorious in three individual events while Mert Karsiyakalilar, Doga Celik and diver Ian Jevnick each took first place in two events. The victory moved the Dragons' overall record above .500 as the team stands at 6-5 on the season.

The Dragons got off to a tough start after their top 200 medley relay team was disqualified and the Broncs took the top two spots to garner an early 15-2 lead. Senior Adrian Sabovici righted the ship in the next event as he took the 1650 free with a time of 16:33.72 to pick up nine points for the home team. Freshman David Boodey edged Rider's Leonard Paccione at the wall to take second place by less than a second. Celik, Drexel's newest member of the team, added nine more points to the Dragons' tally with a win in the 200 free at 1:42.45, better than four seconds faster than Rider's second-place showing from Brian Molloy. The Broncs battled back with a win at 100 back as T.J. Southmayd suffered a rare defeat when Johnny Funk edged him with a time of 52.56 to Southmayd's 52.70. Madkour responded for Drexel with a sub-minute 100 breast that earned him a victory at 59.18. Karsiyakalilar continued the momentum with a win in the 200 fly with teammate Armagan Yavuz claiming second. Karsiyakalilar was credited with a 1:56.26 while Yavuz recorded a 1:57.24.

Rider rebounded to take the 50 free as Scott Player outsprinted Celik, 22.00 to 22.18. Celik then answered Rider's challenge by winning the 100 free with junior Jesse McGrath earning second place. Funk picked up his second win of the day for the visitors, this time in the 200 back, but once again, Madkour picked up the Dragons with a win in the 200 breast to sweep the breaststroke events. He won by more than six seconds with a time of 2:08.38.

In one of the most exciting match-ups of the day it was Molloy who avenged his earlier loss to Sabovici as the two dueled in the 500 free. Molloy held a small lead as the race came to a close but Sabovici cut into the edge during the final lap. The two finished nearly in a dead heat with each looking at the scoreboard to see that Molloy had touched 0.06 seconds earlier than Sabovici to record a time of 4:44.52. Along with Sabovici's second-place finish, Boodey and Dan Durazo took third and fourth, respectively, to lessen the damage of Rider's first-place finish.

Karsiyakalilar and Yavuz once again finished one-two in a butterfly event as the two took the 100 fly to earn a combined 13 team points. Madkour added his third win of the meet in the 200 IM as he denied Funk his third triumph of the day in what was another thrilling race. Madkour trailed with 100 yards remaining but took the lead on the third leg before holding on to defeat Funk by the slimmest of margins as Madkour was credited with a 1:55.27 and Funk a 1:55.30. Rider capped the meet with a victory in the 400 free relay.

In diving action, Jevnick once again faced tough competition but came out on top as he won the 1-meter dive with a score of 265.88 over second-place Paul Apostolakis of Rider who totaled 255.98. On the 3-meter board, Jevnick and Stephen Cal finished one-two while all five divers in the competition finished with scores better than 247. Jevnick's 332.93 easily defeated the field while Cal's 260.73 was good for second place.

The Dragons return to action on Saturday when Providence visits Drexel Pool at 2:00 p.m. Prior to the meet, Drexel's seniors will be honored as part of Senior Day festivities.