MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – After 22 long months without a meet, the Wesleyan men's swimming & diving team were back in action with a home meet on Saturday. The Cardinals defeated Wheaton (Mass.) by a team score of 175-119 and dropped a 183-108 decision to Bates on the day, moving to 1-1 after the season opener.
Four Cardinal swimmers took first place in their respective events as
Mason Polaner '24 picked up a victory in the 1000 free in his first collegiate meet.
Eric Tran '23 picked up a win in the 200 fly while
Harrison Hong '25 was first in the 200 back. Polaner continued his impressive collegiate debut with a second win on the day, this time in the 500 free. In addition, Wesleyan's divers went 1-2 in the 1m and 3m events as
Jake Rybczyk '24 placed first in both while
John Kim '24 was runner-up to Rybczyk in each event.
HIGHLIGHTS:
- Polaner picked up his first of two wins on the day in the 1000 free as he broke free and defeated the runner-up finisher Ethan Bean from Bates by just under five seconds with a time of 10:07.79. He then dominated the 500 free with a time of 4:49.59 that was nearly nine second faster than the runner-up.
- Tran started his day with a third place finish in the 200 free (1:47.93) before he roared to a first place finish in the 200 fly with a time of 1:55.47. He finished off his day with a third place showing in the 200 IM, taking third with a time of 2:00.72
- Hong was incredible in the backstroke throughout the day, taking first in the 200 with a time of 1:57.79 while he was the runner-up in the 100 back, touching the wall at 53.79 seconds. He then added his second runner-up finish on the day, taking second place in the 100 fly with a time of 52.14 seconds, just 0.57 seconds behind the winner (Edmond Giong from Bates)
- Ryan Kobayashi '25 was solid across the board in his collegiate debut, taking third in the 200 fly with a time of 2:00.14 and third in the 100 fly (53.86)
- Wesleyan managed a 3rd place finish in the 200 medley as Hong, Tran, Jeremy Kim '23 and David Kantar '25 combined for a 1:38.65 time to take third behind a pair of teams from Bates
UP NEXT:
Wesleyan rests up before a Monday night dual meet with Amherst scheduled for 5 PM from the Freeman Athletic Center.
