Men's Swimming and Diving | October 29, 2017

GENEVA, Ohio - The men's swimming and diving team had a chance to preview the site of the Atlantic 10 Championships this weekend when they competed in the Atlantic 10 Classic at the Spire Institute with three other schools from the conference. In the meet, the men cruised past St. Bonaventure and Saint Louis, but were edged by George Mason.

"Traveling to Spire and competing over the past two days gives us a great advantage for future successes," head coach Jamie Platt said after the event. "All the teams benefit by being on the boards, blocks, and pool we plan to have peak performances at in February. We had good energy and great competition. The weekend was a success only if we learn from it."

In the 200 IM, Fabian Bergman, the reigning Atlantic 10 Performer of the Week, smoked the competition. Bergman finished in 1:51.38, almost four seconds in front of second place. Bergman also won the 100 back in 49.24, also well ahead of the competition. The senior picked up his third individual win later in the event in the 200 back (1:50.09). 

The 200 free relay team of Sammy Odtallah, Norman Gregory, Marcus Forsgren, and Jakub Bartosiewicz began the meet with a first place win for La Salle (1:24.59). Later in the day, Odtallah, Gregory, and Bartosiewicz finished second, fourth, and fifth respectively in the 50 free.

The Blue and Gold would have further success in the relays, topping the competition in the 400 medley relay later in the event. The team 3:24.07, exactly seven-tenths of a second in front of second place Saint Louis. The 400 free relay team (Bergman, McElwee, Nikolic, and Odtallah) picked up a first place victory in 3:06.00. The 200 medley relay placed second.

Aleksandar Nikolic and Kyle McElwee finished 1-2 in the 200 free. Nikolic clocked in at 1:43.04 while McElwee touched in 1:43.08.

Dimitrije Mladenovic, one of the team's seniors, found his mark in the 100 breast, finishing in 57.98 for second place. 

La Salle  impressed in the medium distance and long distance events as well as Christoff Ras recorded a second place finish in the 400 IM (4:06.32) and freshman Gustov Swedenborg placed third in the 1650 free at 16:37.57.

Ras later won the 200 breast (2:09.48) while teammate Mladenovic was right behind him for second place (2:10.74). 

The diving team kept the momentum as senior diver Dylan Yurasits scored a 288.25 for first place in the 1-meter and then 302.40 for first in the 3-meter.

Platt and the swimming and diving team return home for a tri-meet with Delaware and Rider on November 11 at Kirk Pool.