Meet results
Ewing, NJ … In what will go down as one of the most exciting dual meets of the 2013-14 season, The College of New Jersey men's swimming and diving team came out of the short end in a 133-129 loss to Stevens Institute of Technology on Saturday afternoon.
The contest came down to the final event and the eighth-ranked Ducks won the 400-yard freestyle relay by just over a tenth of a second to capture a nail-biter in Hoboken. Stevens finished the race in 3:08.64, while the team of sophomore
Joseph Dunn (Fanwood, NJ/Scotch Plains-Fanwood), senior
Philip Hawley (Eastampton, NJ/Rancocas Valley), freshman
Andrew Nesbitt (Somerset, NJ/St. Joseph's), and junior
Brett Pedersen (Sewell, NJ/St. Augustine Prep) accrued a time of 3:08.75 to place second.
TCNJ got off to a healthy start as junior
Aleksander Burzynski (Colonia, NJ/St. Joseph's),
junior James Shangle (Highland Park, NJ/Highland Park), Dunn, and Pedersen took top honors in the 200-medley relay. They posted a winning time of 1:35.87. Freshman
Ryan Gajdzisz (Scotch Plains, NJ/Scotch Plains-Fanwood) followed with a victory in the 1,000-yard freestyle, winning in 9:52.06.
Shangle also touched the wall first in the 100- and 200-breaststroke events. He won the 100- in 58.29 and the distance breast in 2:09.99. Gajdzisz returned to the lanes to win the 500-free in 4:47.05.
Pedersen also placed first in the 100-free in 47.25. Freshman
Scott Vitabile (East Windsor, NJ/Hightstown) also outpaced the field in the 200-butterfly event in 158.04, followed by teammate
Anthony Musto (Ringoes, NJ/Hunterdon Central). He placed runner-up with a time of 1:58.20.
A first-place finish by Dunn put the Lions in great shape late in the meet. He tallied maximum points by winning the race in 52.37. But Stevens took the top two spots in the 200-individual medley before winning the final relay event to steal the win.
The loss was the first of the season for the Lions (4-1).
The next competition for TCNJ will at its aquatic center when they host the Lions' Invitational from Friday, December 6 through Sunday, December 8.
