Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving Handle Delaware in Newark

Saturday, January 6

Newark, Del.

12 p.m.

Drexel University

167

126

Delaware

Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving Handle Delaware in Newark

1/6/2018 3:54:00 PM | Men's Swimming & Diving

FINAL RESULTS

NEWARK, Del. – The Drexel men's and women's swimming and diving teams put up a strong showing in the teams' first meet of the 2018 calendar year on Saturday as both squads defeated Delaware on the road. The women handled Delaware 161-119, while the men won by a 167-126 score.

"It always feels good to get a win over one of our rivals, especially coming off our training trip in Florida this week," head coach Adam Braun said following the victories. "Both teams are banged up, sore, and sick but fought through that and put together some good races."

The tone was set right off the top when both the men's and women's teams finished 1-2 in the 200-yard medley relay. The women went first, where a team of Alicia Diaz, Gab Rudy, Hollie Hopf and Kaitlin Perni topped the leaderboard with a time of 1:46.77. They were followed closely by teammates Alexa Kutch, Courtney Levins, Charlotte Myers and April Forsthoffer, who combined for a 1:48.87 showing that was good for second place.

On the men's side, Jason Arthur, Ralph Cannarozzi III, Stathis Malamas and Andrew Zhugayevich won the event with a 1:34.71 swim, narrowly edging the Dragons' team of Kiran Richardson, Joseph Brown, Spencer Hill and Dave Kneiss.

Emily Joyce put together an impressive individual performance against the Blue Hens, beginning with the 1000-yard freestyle. Joyce swam a 10:36.22 to fend off Delaware's Gabrielle Acker (10:37.64) for her first event victory of the afternoon. After the men's 1000-free, in which Patrick Cobb took second place for the Dragons with a 9:38.69 swim, Joyce got right back in the pool and made kept up the winning ways with a victory in the 200-free, swimming a 1:56.03.

Kiran Richardson won three individual events for the Drexel men, beginning with his 1:41.10 swim in the 200-free. He had to overcome Delaware's Patrick Savidge late, edging the Blue Hen by .27 seconds. Luke Hanner joined Richardson on the podium for that event, finishing third with a 1:41.81. In the 50-free, Richardson dashed out to a 21.59, nearly half a second faster than the second-place finisher, teammate Andrew Zhugayevich (22.04).

Richardson's third triumph of the afternoon came in the 100-free, an event that saw the Dragons sweep the podium positions. Richardson finished first with a 47.26, while Jon Pat Ransom put together a 48.17 performance for second place and Zhugayevich ended up third with a 48.37 time.

Alexa Kutch captured the 100-yard backstroke with a 56.27 swim, part of a 1-2 punch for Drexel in the event that included Alicia Diaz's 58.61 to take second. It was the first of three victories on the day for Kutch. The sprinter also won the 50-yard freestyle with a 24.75, and highlighted another event sweep for the Dragons in the 200-back. Her 2:04.66 was first, followed by Diaz's 2:07.38 and Gillian Gress' 2:09.01.

Following Kutch's first win of the day, Jason Arthur began his own three-victory afternoon with a 51.64 in the men's 100-back. Rhys Kawaguchi finished third, swimming a 53.38. Arthur captured the men's 200-back with a 1:51.68, once again topping Kawaguchi who finished second with a 1:55.18.

Tanja Kirmse was the fourth triple-winner of the day for the Dragons, beginning her run with a 53.30 in the 100-free. Kaitlin Perni finished third in the event, swimming a 54.39. Krimse would also be victorious in the 500-free, swimming a 5:06.95 to beat out teammate Emily Joyce, who swam a 5:09.43.

Kirmse's third victory of the afternoon was her most impressive. She posted a 2:07.98 in the 200-yard IM, the eighth-best time in Drexel women's swimming history in that event. Gab Rudy finished second in that race, putting up a 2:08.50.

Rudy won a pair of events of her own for the Dragons, opening with a victory in the 100-yard breaststroke, where she swam a 1:05.56. On the men's side of that event, Ralph Cannarozzi III put together a 57.92 swim to defeat teammate Joseph Brown (58.47) by more than half a second for first place.

Rudy also captured the 200-breast with a 2:24.18 swim. Courtney Levins finished third in that event with a 2:30.12.

Spencer Hill won the men's 100-fly, posting a 51.83 swim. He topped another all-Drexel podium, with Joe Short (51.99) and Stathis Malamas (53.55) coming in second and third.

Though the Dragons did not get victories in either the men's or women's 200-fly, Drexel did finish second and third in both events. Charlotte Myers (2:08.13) and April Forsthoffer (2:09.29) earned podium positions for the women, while Alberto Lagrutta (1:57.47) and Spencer Hill (1:57.66) did the same for the men. The women's 100-fly also saw Myers (58.39) and Forsthoffer (58.96) finish second and third. The 200-breast had a similar finish for the men, where Joseph Brown (2:06.39) and Cannarozzi (2:09.96) finished second and third, respectively.

Patrick Cobb garnered a second-place finish for Drexel in the 500-free on the men's side, swimming a 4:39.43.

Simon Carne had a strong day on the boards, winning the one-meter event with a score of 249.00. Joel Keefer finished third with a 195.60. Carne would finish third in the three-meter dive, posting a 269.32, while Keefer's 216.45 was good for third.

The last Dragon points of the meet came from the 400-free relay teams, which took second and third overall. Perni, Natalie Gundling, Joyce and Kirmse finished second with a 3:35.99 swim, while Myers, Deborah Stoddard, Victoria Palochik, and Levins came in third, posting a time of 3:41.35.

"There's no time to rest," Braun said as the Dragons began to look ahead. "Classes start Monday and we honor our seniors next weekend with our final home meet of the season." That meet, which will see the Dragons host Seton Hall and Towson, will begin at the Daskalakis Athletic Center at 11 a.m. next Saturday.