Men and Women Pick Up Victories over Widener in Swimming Season Opener

Wednesday, October 20

Drexel Pool

6:00

Drexel University

144

106

Widener

Men and Women Pick Up Victories over Widener in Swimming Season Opener

10/20/2010 9:26:11 PM | Men's Swimming & Diving, Women's Swimming & Diving

Complete Results

Philadelphia - Drexel swimming opened the 2010-11 season with resounding victories for both the men and the women over visiting Widener. The men were victorious by a score of 144-106, while the women won, 146-108.

The meet opened with the 200 medley relay as both the men and women prevailed. Devina Tyagi, Malin Wiberg, Lauren Faykes and Sara Lewandowski posted a winning time of 1:52.77 almost four seconds better than Widener's second-place finish. On the men's side, Dan Zalkind, Greg Oprendek, Armagan Yavuz and Matthew Tannenbaum won by more than a second with a time of 1:39.11. It was more Drexel dominance in the next event, the 1000 free. Jessica Csakai won with a time of 10:54.14 while Claire Keithly took second for Drexel at 11:30.67. The men took the top three places in the event with Cole Gindhart placing first while Bryan Pepper nearly beat his teammate to the wall as he touched just 0.10 seconds later. Dave Boodey earned third with a 10:21.90.

Freshman Lewandowski continued her impressive Drexel debut as she won the 200 free by more than two seconds as she finished ahead of fellow Drexel newcomer Denise Tankle who touched at 2:05.87. Jesse McGrath, George Hirka and Danny Durazo placed one-two-three, respectively in the event with McGrath's time of 1:48.59 more than two seconds better than anyone else in the field. Maria Coman, the Drexel record holder in the 100 back won the same event with a time of 1:00.71 with teammates Gizem Yali and Kelly Scheirer taking second and third, respectively. Dan Zalkind won the men's 100 back with a time of 55.11 that edged Widener's Michael Lawley by just 0.15 seconds.

Malin Wiberg took the 100 breast by more than two seconds with a time of 1:10.47 while Sherif Madkour's performance wowed the Drexel crowd as his time of 58.51 was more than five seconds better than anyone else in the pool. Lauren Faykes and a pair of Drexel freshmen, Jenna Seitz and Alyssa Taylor, finished one-two-three, respectively in the 200 fly. Zorbey Canturk, another freshman, won the men's 200 fly with a time of 2:02.49. In the 50 free, Devina Tyagi won with a sub-25 second time while Matthew Tannenbaum won the men's 50 free at 21.87.

Widener picked up its first victory of the day in the women's 100 free but McGrath won on the men's side with a time of 49.14. The Drexel women rebounded to take the top three places in the 200 back with Faykes leading the way with a winning time of 2:11.77. Dan Zalkind won the men's 200 back at 1:59.11 with Sean Kirwin finishing right behind at 1:59.66. Wiberg crushed the field in the 200 breast with a time of 2:30.77 that was better than 12 seconds ahead of everyone else. Madkour showed similar dominance on the men's side in the event with a winning time of 2:06.03 that was more than 10 seconds better than anyone else.

Csakai completed the distance sweep with a win in the 500 free at 5:24.57. For the remainder of the meet, Drexel Head Coach Shawn Markey elected to have his swimmers no longer record team points though the team's dominance in the pool continued. Cole Gindhart touched the wall in 4:57.46 in the 500 free. Seitz posted the best time in the women's 100 fly with a 59.75 while Canturk touched the wall first at 53.88 on the men's side. The men's 200 IM saw Sam Wittig record a team-best 2:03.07. Both the Drexel women and the men touched the wall first in the meet ending 400 free relay.