PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The TCNJ men's swimming team kicked off the Metropolitan Conference Championships in flying form on Thursday night as the Lions blazed their way to a victory in the 800 free relay to open the championship meet.

Conrad Hoody, James McChesney, Lukas Blach, and Andrew Thompson swam to a first-place time of 6:38.62, clearing runner-up Rowan by almost five seconds to sit in pole position heading into Friday morning's prelims session.

Thompson pulled away from his Prof counterpart over the last two laps or so, touching the wall as the clock settled on the seventh-best time in Division III this season. It's the fourth-fastest 800 free relay in program history, and only a little more than a second behind the meet record.

The METs championship continues Friday morning with prelims in the 500 free, 200 IM, and 50 free in addition to the 1-meter dive. The night session will feature finals in those events as well as the 200 medley relay.