Championship results page

Piscataway, NJ … The College of New Jersey men's swimming and diving team closed out three days of superiority in the waters and claimed its eighth consecutive Metropolitan Conference Championship on Sunday evening at Rutgers University.

The Lions raced away from 17 competing programs by topping the field with 1,455 points. The University of Bridgeport finished a distant second place with 1,148 points followed by Rowan University with 983 points. Three program records all fell on Sunday to cap a tremendous overall performance.

It did not take long for TCNJ to take command on the final day of competition as freshman Ryan Gajdzisz (Scotch Plains, NJ/Scotch Plains-Fanwood) and freshman Jason Ivins (Ewing, NJ/Notre Dame) placed first and second in the opening 1650-freestyle event. Gajdzisz won the race with an NCAA provisional time of 15:52.33. Ivins was next to touch the wall and also produced an NCAA B-cut, producing a time of 16:10.76.

Gajdzisz also broke a record in the 1,000-free, previously held by assistant coach Michael Caputo ';13. The freshman posted a time of 9:36 in the 1,000 to set the new mark.

At the post-event ceremonies, Gajdzisz was named MET Rookie of the Year for her achievements in the lanes. He has also been named New Jersey Athletic Conference Rookie of the Week four times this season.

In the 200-backstroke, senior Stephen Tarnowski (Ramstein, Germany/Ramstein American) broke his program record in the preliminary heat with a time of 1:50.37. He followed that with a fourth-place finish in the A-final at night. Junior Aleksander Burzynski (Colonia, NJ/St. Joseph's), and freshman Jin Roh (Tenafly, NJ/Tenafly) placed fifth, and sixth and also registered provisional times. Burzynski finished in 1:51.58 and Roh in 1:53.04. In the B-final, junior Matthew VanBiervliet (Hillsborough, NJ/Hillsborough) placed third and 11^th overall with a finish of 1:56.66.

Sophomore James Shangle (Highland Park, NJ/Highland Park) placed second runner-up in the 200-breaststroke event. He posted a provisional time of 2:02.02, just two one-hundreds of second off the runner-up time. In the preliminary heat, Shangle also broke a school record with a finish of 2:00.66. That was formerly held by former Lions All-American Myles O'Connor '10.

Freshman Vincent Masciandaro (Marlton, NJ/Cherokee) finished fifth in the A-final with a time of 2:07.90 to register 25 team points. Freshman Andrew Nesbitt (Somerset, NJ/St. Joseph's) was the top finisher in the B-final, topping the field of swimmers in 2:08.99.

Four Lions raced in the 100-freestyle A-final. Junior Brett Pedersen (Sewell, NJ/St. Augustine Prep) and sophomore Joseph Dunn (Fanwood, NJ/Scotch Plains-Fanwood) finished third and fourth with B-cut times of 45.44 and 45.54. Seniors Stephen Gibson (Sewell, NJ/St. Augustine Prep) and Philip Hawley (Eastampton, NJ/Rancocas Valley) placed sixth and seventh overall. Both seniors produced provisional times in the preliminary heats. Junior Brian Perez (Matawan, NJ/St. John Vianney), just missed qualifying for the A-final and finished runner-up in the B-final with a time of 46.37.

In the 200-butterfly event, rookie Scott Vitabile (East Windsor, NJ/Hightstown) posted a B-cut in the preliminary heat and placed fourth overall in the A-final. His time of 1:53.35 notched 26 points for the Lions.

Sophomore Daniel Tsinis (East Brunswick, NJ/Middlesex County) put forth a strong performance in the 3-meter diving event. He placed third overall with a final tally of 480.85.

TCNJ capped the three-day event in championship fashion. The team of Tarnowski, Pedersen, Dunn, and Gibson broke the program record in the 400-freestyle relay. They finished with a time of 2:59.38 to best the previous mark of 3:01.85 set in 2009 by Tom Nawrot, Mike Vernoia, Tom Medvecky, and Shawn Kircher.

The Lions will await word on who has qualified to compete at the 2014 NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships held in Indianapolis, Indiana from March 19 – 22