By Julie Kayzerman '16

Meet Results

Ewing, NJ ... For a group of five seniors on The College of New Jersey  men's swimming and diving team, they knew it would be a tight race to beat Rowan University in the New Jersey Athletic Conference Championship. But on senior night in the TCNJ Aquatics Center, the group of seniors downed their opponents, 162-136, to claim their fourth-straight NJAC title and eighth overall.

Senior James Shangle dominated his competition, taking first in three events. Shangle swam a NCAA B-cut time in the 100-breaststroke, clocking in at 57.15. He also outswam his opponents in the 200-IM, winning with a time of 1:57.49.

"Leading up to it, the emotions were running really high because Rowan's such a good team," Shangle said. "But behind the block it felt like all the nerves kind of disappeared, and I just felt really great once I got in the pool."

Shangle's most dramatic event came in the 200-breaststroke, as he narrowly edged out his opponent to hit first place in 2:06.54, after being neck-and-neck throughout the event.

"It's the most numb I've ever felt in a race," Shangle said. "Luckily I was able to have a really good turn on my last turn and push off just a little bit ahead of him and just gave it everything I've got."

He also contributed the Lion's winning 200-medley relay alongside classmate Joseph Dunn, junior Ryan Gajdzisz, and freshman Alex Skoog, timing in at 1:32.65.

Gajdzisz triumphed in the 500 freestyle, taking first with a time of 4:48.88.

Skoog had a great day in the lanes, hitting the top spot in the 100-and 200-backstroke events at 52.59 and 1:54.36, respectively.

The men had an exciting sweep in the 200 freestyle, with junior Scott Vitabile winning at 1:42.80, followed by classmate Jason Ivins and sophomore Phil Binaco in second and third at 1:44.32 and 1:44.56, respectively. Vitabile also took first in the 100 freestyle at 46.92 and anchored the winning 400-freestyle relay with Dunn, Binaco, and Ivins, who collectively put up a time of 3:06.73.

The Lions celebrated the last home meet for seniors Dante Colucci, Dunn, Frederick McDonald, Shangle, and Daniel Tsinis. They look to take on to take William Paterson University in Wayne, NJ at 1 p.m. before competing in the Metropolitan Conference Championships.