Stevens Wins Men's Swim E8 Championship
Day 4 Results
The Stevens Institute of Technology men’s swimming team won the Empire 8 title for the second straight year and third time in the program’s history Saturday in Ithaca, N.Y. The Ducks finished with a team total of 818 points.
The Ducks beat out Ithaca College (810) by eight points for the closest margin of victory in conference history. Hartwick College was third (602).
Hartwick senior Luke Grunewald took first place in the mile swim earning a B-cut with a 15:59.64. Stevens freshman Mark Lippert had a time of 16:09.29, while Hartwick freshman Brendan Quinn was third in 16:17.80.
The 100-freestyle was a photo finish as the top-three finishers all hit B-cut times and were separated by .23 seconds. Stevens sophomore Tomasz Wolinksi notched a 45.45 to win the 100-freestyle by .02 seconds over Ithaca’s Peter Knight (45.47). Alfred junior Dave Coombes was two-tenths behinds to earn third place (45.68).
Stevens sophomore Ravi Sun successfully defended his title in the 200-yard backstroke with an NCAA B-cut of 1:49.35. Nazareth sophomore Daniel Burke and Hartwick sophomore Matt Plunkett followed in second and third (1:51.16, 1:51.78).
Stevens sophomore Dane Pilcher clocked a B-cut 2:06.12 in the 200-yard breaststroke to pick up his first individual E8 title. Ithaca sophomore James Bowe picked up a second place finish with a B-cut time of his own (2:06.54).
To close the meet clinch the team title for Stevens, Wolinski, Nick Noga, Joshua Lefeber and Shawn Hanak turned in a 3:01.49 to win the 400-yard freestyle relay. The time was good for a new championship-record and a NCAA B-cut. Ithaca and Alfred picked up B-cut times with marks of 3:02.86 and 3:04.43, respectively.
Final Team Standings
Stevens - 818
Ithaca - 810
Hartwick - 602
Alfred - 346
Nazareth - 332
Utica - 193