HARTFORD, CT. – The Wesleyan men's swimming team steamrolled Trinity College with a 163-124 victory, their first win of the season, on Wednesday afternoon from the Trinity Natatorium. The team was led by Mason Polaner '24 with two first-place victories. Wesleyan produced seven more first-place wins, two of which were won by the relay teams, and a total of 42 Top 5 finishes.

Polaner was the first individual victory of the afternoon as he clocked a final 1:46.56 in the 200-yard freestyle. Polaner's second win came by way of the 500-yard freestyle race where he swam a winning 4:54.18.
The 50-yard backstroke was won by Fritz Betall '25, coming in at 28:05. Betall also finished third in the 50-yard butterfly, touching the wall at 24.44. Fred Li '25 won the 100-yard butterfly with a final time of 53:09. Li finished fourth behind Betall in the 50-yard butterfly at 24:25. Daniel Chan '27, swimming a 23:26, won the 50-yard freestyle event. Sekander Ali '25 posted a 50.80 for a first-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle. Ali placed second behind Chan 23.31 in the 50-yard freestyle, and fourth in the 500-yard freestyle with a 5:15.07.  Harrison Hong '25 cleaned up the first-place finishes with a 53.70 in the 100-yard backstroke. In the 1,000-yard freestyle Hong took second place, swimming a 11:01.02.

Cooper Mayo '26 picked up two second-place finishes and a third-place finish. In the 50-yard breaststroke Mayo swam a 28.37 for second. In the 100-yard breaststroke Mayo swam a final 1:02.18 for second. And in the 50-yard freestyle Mayo finished at 23.74 for third.

With a second-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle behind Ali, Kyle McGregor '24 swam a final time of 51:37. McGregor also placed fifth in the 50-yard freestyle, finishing at 24:46. Sam Anderson '24 clocked a final 23.88 in the 50-yard butterfly for a second-place finish and a third-place final time of 55.05 in the 100-yard butterfly.

Daniel Isman '26 placed second in the 400-yard individual medley, swimming a 4:28.53. Isman also swam a 1:04.4 in the 100-yard breaststroke that was good for fourth place and another fourth-place finish at 29.49 in the 50-yard breaststroke. And Zack O'Connor '26 finished second behind Polaner with a 5:10.49 in the 500-yard freestyle.

Tua Fitisemanu '24 placed third in the 50-yard backstroke with a 30.01. Fitisemanu also finished in fourth with a 58.62 in the 100-yard backstroke. Harmut Doerwaldt '25 had two third-place finishes on the afternoon, swimming a 51.77 in the 100-yard freestyle and a 4:37.30 in the 400-yard individual medley. Jeremy Kim '23 swam a 1:02.62 for third place in the 100-yard breaststroke and fourth in the 200-yard freestyle at 1:52.57.

Two fourth-place finishes went to Ryan Kobayashi '25. In the 1,000-yard freestyle Kobayashi swam an 11:14.47 and a 57.37 in the 100-yard butterfly. Kobayashi also placed fifth in the 50-yard butterfly at 24.95.

Rounding out the scoring for the Cardinals were several fifth-place finishes. Lucas Pirner '25 at 12:16.57 in the 1,000-yard freestyle and 1:00.90 in the 100-yard backstroke. Nicky Wang '25 at 1:54.54 in the 200-yard freestyle. Aidan Trendell '25 with a 33.02 in the 50-yard backstroke. And Philip Von Koppenfels '25 with a 32.42 in the 50-yard breaststroke.

The Wesleyan 'A' team of Hong, Kim, Anderson, and Polaner placed first in the 400-yard medley relay with a combined 3:34.23 and the 'B' team of Pirner, Mayo, Li, and Chan placed third with a final 3:43.23. In the 200-yard freestyle relay, the 'A' team of Hong, Polaner, Anderson, and Kim placed first with a 1:28.76. The 'B' team of Chan, Isman, Ali, and Doerwaldt finished with a 1:33.44 for third.

The Cardinals will return to the pool on Saturday, Jan. 20, when they face off against Springfield and Roger Williams at Springfield, beginning at 1 p.m.