EWING, N.J. – The TCNJ Men's swimming and diving team dominated its home opener against Ramapo, winning with a final score of 159-91 Saturday afternoon. The Lions saw a first place finisher in 17 of the 19 total events competed in throughout the meet.

Highlighting the afternoon for the Lions was sophomore Ethan Weiss, who broke the school record in 1-meter diving (11 dives) with a score of 561.83, shattering the previous program record of 538.30 that was held by former Lions All-American TJ Burns since 2012. Weiss also set new career-high marks in the 1-meter diving (6 dives) and both 3-meter diving events (6 and 11 dives) after scoring scores of 358.50, 364.05 and 569.70, respectively. In total, the sophomore won all four events on the board and officially qualified for the Regionals meet.

In the pool, the Lions won 11 total individual swimming events. Reigning All-American James McChesney officially began his 2022-23 season with two event victories in the 200 butterfly and 500 freestyle. The junior clocked times of 1:56.03 and 4:47.17, respectively, in both events to take first place.

Senior Matt Watts also opened the season by winning the 50 freestyle, finishing with a time of 21.73 in his first race of the year.

The freshman and sophomores also had a big day, with the first years grabbing five total first place finishes and the second years clocking three top times.

The freshmen group were led by Richard Park, who clocked top times in the 100 backstroke (54.50 secs) and 200 IM (1:59.20 secs)

After winning Rookie of the week honors following his terrific collegiate debut against William Paterson, Andrew Kidchob once again saw a first place finish as he won the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:54.68.

Freshmen Gavin Formon and Nick Viola each won an event in the freestyle, with Formon swimming a 1:46.70 to win the 200 free, and Viola clocking a 10:08.98 to place first in the 1000 freestyle.

Coming off a Swimmer of the Week nomination for his performance against the Pioneers, sophomore Ryan Higgins came away with two wins in the 200 breaststroke and 400 IM, putting up times of 2:13.76 and 4:07.09 in the races.

Fellow sophomore Milo Whitley won the 100 freestyle with a time of 49 seconds.

In the relay events, TCNJ placed atop both the 200 Medley Relay and 200 Freestyle Relay.

Made up of Ryan Higgins, Ryan VanDeVeen, Richard Park and Gavin Formon, the 200 Medley Relay totaled a relay time of 1:36.44. The 200 free relay saw the quartet of Dixon Kahler, Matt Watts, Lukas Blach and Alex Johnson combine to clock a 1:29.09 in the race.

Following the home opener, TCNJ's next meet will take place on the road when the team travels out to face No. 22 Swarthmore on November 12^th at 2 p.m.