The Seattle University men's swim team won eight of 14 swimming events over CSU Bakersfield, but the Roadrunners' ability to score 26 points without opposition in two diving events gave the home team a 153-135 victory over the Redhawks Saturday afternoon at the Hillman Aquatics Center.
The Redhawks got off to a good start, as the quartet of John Fulmer (Kent, Wash.), Chris Lynch (Mukilteo, Wash.), Bart Wanot (Federal Way, Wash.), and Tyler Carriker (Everett, Wash.) won the 200 medley relay by a quarter of a second with a time of 1:33.71. Murray Longbotham (Mercer Island, Wash.) finished second in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:42.20.
Lynch and James Gilmore (Eugene, Ore.) finished 1-2 in the 100 breaststroke, with Lynch touching the wall in 57.39 seconds, followed by Gilmore in 59.03 seconds. In his first collegiate meet, Andy Cunningham (Cameron Park, Calif.) made an immediate impact, winning the 200 butterfly with a time of 1:52.86, the seventh-fastest time on the all-time top ten list. Cunningham led a 1-2-3 finish, as he was followed by Kyle Moline (Mercer Island, Wash.) in 1:55.43 and Ali Abadi (Edmonds, Wash.) in 1:57.79.
Wanot finished second in the 50 freestyle in 21.19 seconds and fourth in the 100 freestyle in 47.04 seconds, but the team kicked it into gear after that event. Nicolas Morrell (Bend, Ore.) and Joe Wertz (Richland, Wash.) went 1-2 in the 200 backstroke, with Morrell posting a time of 1:53.27 and Wertz finishing in 1:54.13. Lynch and Gilmore repeated their 1-2 performance in the 200 breaststroke, led by Lynch's time of 2:06.20 and followed by Gilmore in 2:06.93.
In the 500 freestyle, Cunningham posted the second-fastest time in school history, winning the event by almost six full seconds with a time of 4:32.48. After Longbotham finished second in the 100 butterfly in 51.63 seconds, the Redhawks posted a 1-2-3 finish in the 200 individual medley, led by Gilmore with a time of 1:55.91, followed by Cunningham in 1:56.51 and Wertz in 1:57.33.
Longbotham, Morrell, Wanot, and Carriker closed out the meet with a victory in the 400 freestyle relay, combining for a time of 3:06.59. That will place the foursome into fifth place on the team's all-time top ten list for that event.
"Although the scoring did not work out as we would have liked it, I am happy with the performance of the guys today," Seattle U head coach Craig Nisgor said. "They trained real hard for this meet, and the results showed that fact, as we dominated the breaststroke events and posted numerous in-season bests, something that is extraordinary for this early in the year."
The Seattle University men's swim team will host past Redhawk swimmers in an alumni meet next Saturday, Oct. 27, at 12 p.m. at the Connolly Center. The next official competition is Saturday, Nov. 10, against long-time rival Simon Fraser, also starting at 12 p.m. at the Connolly Center.