NEW YORK CITY, N.Y. – The TCNJ men's swimming and diving team fell just short in the Tri-Meet against No. 3 Johns Hopkins and No. 6 NYU on the road Saturday afternoon. The Lions lost 154-107 to the Blue Jays and 161-101 to the host team Violets. Despite the loss to the host team, TCNJ showed signs of big improvement as a team from last season's dual meet against NYU, where the blue and gold fell 211-87.
TCNJ (3-2) saw strong performances across the board, highlighted by a dominant performance from junior James McChesney in the freestyle and an impressive effort in the 400 Freestyle Relay.
McChesney posted the fastest time in the country in the 200 freestyle, beating out NYU's Nathaniel Yeoh with a new season-best time of 1:39.53. The junior followed up with another dominant performance by winning the 100 freestyle, clocking the third fastest time in the country at 45.60.
Rounding out the afternoon for the Lions, the 400 Free Relay team of Richard Park, Matt Watts, Dixon Kahler and McChesney swam the third-fastest time in the country after combining for a time of 3:06.26 to win the event.
TCNJ began the meet with the quartet of Andrew Kidchob, Ryan VanDeVeen, Park and Kahler finishing second in the 200 Medley Relay with a time of 1:34.07. The relay team was narrowly edged out by Johns Hopkins' 'A' team by .07 seconds, but were able to push past the Violets' top relay team by over a second.
Freshman Gavin Formon swam the top time in both the NJAC and the Metro region in the 1000 freestyle with a 9:51.19, placing him fifth on the day.
Kidchob continued his stellar freshman year by finishing fourth in the 100 backstroke after clocking a 51.92.
Also swimming a top time in both the NJAC and the Metro region, sophomore Ryan VandeVeen clocked a 2:08.35 to finish second in the 200 breaststroke. The sophomore also finished third in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 58.79.
Sophomore Ryan Higgins earned two top-five finishes in the meet, finishing fourth in the 200 butterfly with a time of 1:58.03 and third in 200 backstroke by clocking a 1:53.12.
Richard Park and Dixon Kahler both finished in the top-five for the 50 freestyle, with the freshman clinching third place with a time of 21.83, followed up by the senior's time of 21.89 to take fifth.
In the 100 freestyle, senior Matt Watts swam the second-fastest none-relay time of 47.69 to finish in fifth place.
McChesney rounded out his terrific day in the pool with a second-place finish in the 100 butterfly after clocking a 50.48. He was followed by Park, who touched the wall in 52.28 seconds to finish fourth.
Competing separately on the day, the men's divers traveled with the women's team to the USMMA Memorial Invitational, and saw a successful day as well. The Lions were highlighted by sophomore Michael Wu, who hit his second cut and is officially qualified for the NCAA Regionals meet after scoring a 287.90 in 3-meter diving, placing in second.
Fellow sophomore and NCAA Regionals qualifier Ethan Weiss finished first in the 3-meter dive with a score of 304.95.
The Lions return home to the TCNJ Aquatic Center in the first weekend of December to host the annual TCNJ Invitational from Friday, December 2, to Sunday, December 4.
