- The La Salle Explorers men's swimming a diving team closed out three days of competition at the Rutgers Super Splash on Sunday afternoon, posting a total of 502.50 points. La Salle finished third in a field of 12 teams.

The Explorer team of John Welsh, Kevin Whelan, Sean Connors- McBride and Chris Cefalo swam to a time of 1:24.74 in the 200 yard freestyle relay for a a team-best third place finish.  In the 800 yard freestyle relay team of Welsh, Emir Hubijar, Eli Field, and Connors-McBride claimed fourth place with a time of 6:56.23. La Salle's team of Welsh, Grant Chin, Connors-McBride and Cefalo swam to a seventh place finish in the 400 yard medley relay team with a time of 3:33.09.  In the shorter 200 yard medley relay, Welsh, Whelan, Connors-McBride and Cefalo matched the seventh place finish of the 400 yard team with a time of 1:36.23.

On the final day of competition, Connors-McBride turned in a first place finish in the 200 yard butterfly, giving the Explorers 30 points after swimming a 1:51.02. Teammate Eli Field added 17 points in the race, finishing 6th overall with a time of 1:55.20. Connors-McBride made a strong showing in the 100 yard butterfly, with a time of 50:44 which tied him for first place with American's Val Fomenko.  In the 500 yard freestyle, Connors-McBride finished in a time of 4:38.87, almost three seconds faster than his preliminary time of 4: 41.75 to finish in seventh place overall.  Teammate Reed Inglee finished in sixth place behind Connors-McBride with a time of 52.24.

It was a fourth place finish for Chin in the 400 individual medley with a time of 4: 08.54 after swimming a 4:07.05 in the preliminary heat to place him in the A-finals race. Chin crossed the finish line in a time of 1:55.14 in the 200 yard individual medley to finish in sixth place.

Welsh turned in his best performances of the meet in the 100 yard backstroke with a fifth place performance in a time of 53.35 and again in the 100 yard freestyle with a time of 46.93 also good for a fifth place finish and 20 points. In the 50 freestyle event, Welsh cruised to a sixth place finish in a time of 21:46, just .58 seconds off the leader.  Welsh also turned in a seventh place performance in the 200 yard freestyle with a time of 1:42.40.

Four Explorers finished in the top 20 in the 100 yard breaststroke, with Whelan claiming 11th place (1:00.11) followed by David Ellerson in 16th (1:00.55), Chin in 17th (1:00.57) and Tom Smyth in 18th with a time of 1:00.99.

Three-time Atlantic 10 Performer of the Week Karo Isajan tallied 278.05 points in the 1-meter diving event to give the Explorers 24 points in a third place finish.

The Explorers will take a break until the new year, with their next meet being on January 13th at the Rhode Island Invitational.