SWARTHMORE, Pa. – Franklin & Marshall’s
men’s swim team picked up its first win of the season, edging
past Swarthmore 108-97 on Saturday. The Diplomats (1-2, 1-0 CC)
split the first four races with the Garnet (1-2, 1-1 CC) before
embarking on a four-race tear that powered the win, F&M’s
11th straight in league competition dating back to a 2006 loss the
last time the Diplomats swam at Swarthmore
Matt Jaffee, Tom Grabiak, Peter Fishler and Matt Woods got
delivered 11 points in the first race with a seven-second win in
the 400-yard medley relay. Jaffee, Grabiak and Fishler powered
F&M’s win with Fishler answering Swarthmore’s
Stephen Shymon’s win in the 1,000-yard freestyle by stealing
a tightly contested 200-yard freestyle. Fishler touched at 1:51.32,
followed by teammate, Matt Young at 1:52.86, then
Swarthmore’s Neal Palmer at 1:52.88.
The Garnet answered right back, handily sweeping the first three
places in the 50-yard free. F&M then embarked on its run on the
scoreboard.
Jaffee went to work first, taking the 200-I.M. in 2:01.78 followed
by Grabiak’s five-second win in the 200-yard butterfly.
Fishler then took the 100-yard free by .13 seconds from
Swat’s Douglas Gilchrest-Scott, winner of the 50-free.
Fishler swam a 49.14. Jaffe struck again, making it four-straight
races with a nearly three-second win over teammate David Fell in
the 200-yard backstroke. Jaffee’s 2:01.75 was almost
six-seconds better than the closest Swarthmore swimmer.
Shymon ended the F&M run by posting a 5:04.56 in the 500-yard
free. Conor Finnegan and Eliot Scymanski mitigated the loss of the
first place points by taking second and third place, before Grabiak
won the 200-yard breaststroke with a 2:13.65, edging out
Swat’s Sterling Satterfield at 2:14.28.
The Garnet closed the gap with 15 points in the final relay, but
the four-race gash proved too much to overcome for Swat’s
swimmers.
With the win, the Diplomats move to 1-2 on the year with a 1-0
mark in Centennial competition. F&M returns to the pool on
Friday evening when the Diplomats host Washington in a CC meet.