KINGS POINT, N.Y. (October 22, 2022) – All-American
Ali Kolenovic and sophomore
Edward Platonov each won a pair of races, but the Stevens Institute of Technology men's swimming team fell to the United States Merchant Marine Academy 176-118 Saturday in a dual meet held at O'Hara Pool.
Junior
Darius Truong, first-year
Angel Velasquez and sophomore
Ryan Ward also earned race wins for the Ducks, who dropped to 0-1 on the season.
USMMA won a total of seven races and swept both diving events to earn the victory in the first meeting between the teams since 2010. The Mariners, who opened the season ranked ninth in the Northeast-North Region by the College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America, improved to 2-0.
"I thought the team swam pretty fast overall for this point in the season," head coach
Adam Schneider said. "Some impressive early season swims, specifically from
Ryan Ward,
Edward Platonov,
Lukas Mikulenas,
Angel Velasquez and
Amedeo Bove, who all looked fantastic."
"USMMA is a fast team," Schnider continued. "We look forward to racing them again at the TCNJ Invite in December."
Kolenovic touched the wall first in both the 200 free and the 200 back. In the freestyle race, the Ridgefield, New Jersey native had the second-fastest first split, completing the first 50 yards in 25.72 seconds, however Kolenovic took the lead at the second turn, completing the second 50 in just 27.23 seconds. He completed the race in 1:48.52, finishing two-and-a-half seconds ahead of his closest competitor. In his second individual race of the meet, Kolenovic finished three seconds ahead of USMMA's Teague Mayer, using a 29.97 split in the third leg of the race to complete the swim in 1:58.62.
Platonov, the 2022 Middle Atlantic Conference Rookie of the Year, topped the field in the 1,000 free and the 200 IM. In the 1,000, the Milford, Connecticut native finished nearly seven seconds ahead of the field, touching the wall for the final time in 10:15.57. In the individual medley, Platonov got off to a blistering start in the butterfly (26.04 seconds) and then closed the race in style during the freestyle portion of the race (27.37 seconds) to finish the race in 2:00.25. His opening and closing split times were the fastest of any competitor in the field.
In the 100 back, Truong jumped out to an early lead after the first 50, touching the wall in 25.80 seconds. He closed the race by swimming the final 50 in 28.09 seconds to earn the victory by exactly one second (53.89 seconds) over USMMA's Heath Lewis.
In his first individual swim at the collegiate level, Velasquez took first in the 100 breast, winning the race in 1:00.72. The Union City, New Jersey native was nearly a half-second ahead of the field through the first 50 and then the first-year swimming posted the second-fastest mark over the final 50 yards to win the race.
Ward rounded out the race winners for Stevens by topping the field in the 500 free. The Yardley, Pennsylvania native completed the first 50 yards in an impressive 26.32 seconds and then swam the second-fastest final 50 (29.64 seconds) to close out the victory.
In addition to Vasquez, eight Ducks (
Amedeo Bove,
Gailen Davis,
Conlan Hurley,
Justin Lee,
Lukas Mikulenas,
Daniel Shemetov,
Will Stibor and
Leo Timmermann) swam their first collegiate race. Also, graduate student
Shawn Luke Klein made his Stevens debut after transferring from Grove City College.
The Ducks scored five second-place finishes on the day, two of which came in Stevens victories.
Earning second-place finishes in a relay event was the 200-yard freestyle relay team (Stibor, Timmermann, Platonov and Kolenovic). On the individual side, Hurley took second in the 200 fly, Bove finished just behind Ward in the 500 free and Mikulenas finished 44-hundredths-of-a-second behind Velasquez in the 100 breast, while also taking second in the 200 breast.
Up Next: Men's Swimming returns to the pool on Nov. 4 for the two day New York University Fall Invitational.
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