Meet Results
Towson, Md. - The Marywood University Men's Swimming and Diving team came through for their first win of the season in dramatic fashion, as they triumphed over Goucher College by a score of 83-82.
The Pacer men started the meet shorthanded. With several key players missing due to injury or other obligation, Marywood was outnumbered by their Goucher opponents. After the 1000 Freestyle, despite solid performances and a two-three finish from
Zack Costello and Daniel Shannon, the Pacers started out behind when Goucher junior Jacy Macconvery won the race with a time of 12:00.16. Marywood immediately struck back in the next event, where
Walter Marcinkowski took the top spot in the 200 freestyle with a 2:02.48. Teammate
Gavin Staub doubled down on the Pacers efforts by taking second with a 2:05.12, gaining them the lead for the first time.
The 50 freestyle would set the tone for the rest of the meet: down to the wire. Despite facing three Goucher compeitors and experiencing a slip off the block, senior
Jared Lubarsky nearly came back to win, missing by a little over a tenth of a second to Goucher junior Eli Gang 24.73 to 24.84. Sophomore
Nick Budinski made sure put the Pacers back into contention in the next event by taking the 200IM in 2:12.42 and tying the score going into the first break.
As the second portion of the meet began, the Pacers once again faced an uphill battle, having no one entered in the 200 fly and allowing the Gophers to take the back the lead. Staub began the Pacers' next comeback effort by triumphing over three Goucher opponents in the 100 freestyle with a time of 55.53. Lubarsky then bounced back from his early fingernail defeat to win the 200 back by a much larger margin of almost ten seconds, clocking a 2:15.67.
The swing event of the evening would prove to be the 500 freestyle. Marcinkowski, coming off the win in the 200, started off the race behind Gang, but all part of a plan to conserve energy. After hitting the halfway mark, the sophomore was behind by about two body lengths. However, from that point, Marcinkowski began to reel his Goucher opponent back in little by little every lap. By the last 100, he pulled even and in the last lap he surged ahead to triumph by more than two seconds with a 5:41.07. Costello would finish fourth and Shannon fifth to give the Pacers a fighting chance going into the final two events.
Dubinski would continue his dominant performance for the night by triumphing in the 200 breast by a whole length of the pool (2:19.08), pulling the Pacers within striking distance of the lead going into the last relay. Lubarsky, Marcinkowski, and Staub all swam the first three legs of the 400 free relay neck and neck with the Gophers. Going into the anchor leg, with the pool deck exploding with excitement of the occasion, Dubinski capped off his amazing meet with extremely quick final leg. The first 50 saw the two teams continue to compete on even terms with Goucher's Gang, but the second would be where Dubinski would make his move a blast past his opponent to take the race and the meet by a single point.
The swimming and diving teams return to action on Jan 18 when they will compete in a tri-meet against local rivals Misericordia University and the University of Scranton, hosted by the Cougars. Meet begins at 4:30PM
