BY: Alexa D'Aiello

EWING, N.J. - The TCNJ men's swimming and diving team won every event to close out a thoroughly impressive weekend at its annual invitational.

The Lions' 400 free relay unit jumped into the top-5 in all of Division III with a remarkable meet-ending performance to put the cherry on top of a meet full of lifetime bests. TCNJ ended on 1501 total points, well ahead of second-place Merchant Marine with 1081. New Paltz was a distant third with 471 and Salisbury came in fourth with 236.

The men kicked off the finale with the 1650 free, where TCNJ took the top three timed spots for the finals. Lukas Blach took first (15:57.91), with Conrad Hoody in second (16:17.61) and Ethan Laible in third (16:18.99). Blach's time, a personal best, vaulted him just inside the top-25 on the national performance list, while Laible shattered his previous PR by about 45 seconds.

The 200 backstroke led to another TCNJ top-three sweep with Ryan Higgins in first (1:51.57), followed by Andrew Walter (1:52.79) in second and Ryan Heerema and Evan Eckels in a tie for third (1:56.69). Higgins' mark slots him 32nd in Division III in the event; Walter and Heerema each notched new lifetime bests, with the former obliterating his former PR by more than 10 seconds.

Blach finished first in the 100 free with a time of 47.52, a lifetime best by more than 1.50 seconds. DJ DeSomma came in first for the 100 freestyle consolation heat (49.42).

The 200 breaststroke ended with Ryan VanDeVeen in first with a time of 2:02.85, a 5-second PR and good for 24th in the country,  and teammate Shawn Kushner close behind with a big PR of his own at 2:03.09, more than six seconds clear of his previous personal benchmark.

Jack Marble finished the 200 butterfly with a time of 1:57.35, just slightly ahead of teammate Jonah Herring at 1:57.59. Marble's mark was a personal best by about a tenth of a second.

The Lions finished the invitational on a stunning note as McChesney, Matt Watts, Kahler, and Thompson completed the 400 free relay in 3:00.08, just missing going sub-3 minutes but happily settling for the 4th-fastest time in Division III this season. 

Ethan Weiss moved to 11th in Division III with a first-place score of 469.50 on the 1-meter dive (11 dives). Michael Wu placed fifth (335.95) and Alex Watts was sixth (311.20).

TCNJ swims again at the RPI invitational January 15th at 12 p.m.