COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – Last season, the Ursinus College men's swimming team suffered a heartbreaking defeat to Franklin & Marshall in a meet that came down to the final relay. This time, the Bears left no doubt.
Seniors Marcus Wagner and William Benn each won two individual events in their final home meet as the Bears ran off eight consecutive first-place finishes after dropping the opening relay and cruised to a 143-119 Centennial Conference victory on Senior Day.
After Benn and Wagner were honored alongside Spencer Collopy, Dylan Cooper, and Brett Felgoise as part of a pregame ceremony, Ursinus went to work ending a two-year losing streak against F&M with a dominant stretch of swimming.
Wagner started the fireworks at the head of a 1-2-3 showing in the 1000 free, touching first in 10:02.03 with freshman Daniel Powell and junior Christopher Barthold claiming the next two spots.
Freshman Jacob Menzer outpaced Diplomats rookie Eric Dietrich-Peterson with a 1:45.33 in the 200 free, where freshman Casey Lear was third, before Benn followed with a 53.43 in the 100 back, finishing 1.39 seconds ahead of F&M's Timothy Gould.
Sophomore Maxwell Coulter captured first place in the 100 breast, edging Eric Lang by one hundredth of a second with a winning mark of 1:01.10. Sophomore Johnathan Myers took the top prize in the 200 fly (2:01.30), with sophomore James Callaghan right behind in second.
Sophomore Travis Venables took down the field in the 50 free, posting a 22.08 with junior Colin McNamara claiming third at 22.47.
Lear picked up a win in the 100 free, touching in 48.76 to knock off Danny Sanders by an even half-second. Menzer was third in 50.01, and Cooper placed fourth at 50.05. Benn capped the streak of eigght straight first-place performances with a 1:57.22 in the 200 back, a full 2.53 seconds ahead of Gould in second.
Lang stopped the Bears' run with a win in the 200 breast, where Coulter placed second. Wagner got Ursinus back on track with a first-place swim in the 500 free, the final home event of his standout career; Wagner's mark of 4:54.15 led another 1-2-3 finish in a distance freestyle event, this time with Menzer and Powell taking second and third, respectively.
McNamara landed in second in the 100 fly, and Callaghan was fourth in the 200 IM. Menzer, Venables, Cooper, and Lear combined for a runner-up effort in the 400 free relay (3:15.77).
The Bears close the regular season with a CC dual at Washington College on Saturday, January 28.
