Diplomats Cruise to F&M Invitational Victory

LANCASTER, Pa. – Franklin & Marshall's men's swimming team captured three individual events as well as a relay on Sunday night en route to its dominating victory at the F&M Invitational. Over the span of three days, the Diplomats recorded 829.5 points, beating out second-place competitor Ramapo College of New Jersey by 294.5 points.

F&M picked up a win in the first event of the night when Jake Reingold touched the wall first in the 500-yard freestyle. Teammate Patrick Meehan placed fifth with a time of 4:57.72, followed by Tim Landon in sixth with a time of 4:58.53.

Patrick Musselman took third in the 200-yard backstroke, finishing with a time of 2:01.37.

F&M dominated the 100-yard freestyle with four Diplomat swimmers finishing in the top-five. That group was led by John Zipp, who picked up the victory with a time of 46.66. Zach Wilt placed third with a time of 48.40, followed by Dennis Chen in fourth with a time of 48.50 and Jin Hwang in fifth with a time of 48.87.

Richard Denton led the Diplomats to another win on the afternoon, placing first in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:58.41. Jordan Alter was the next F&M swimmer to finish, earning fifth with a time of 2:07.68.

In the 100-yard breaststroke, William Cappuccio had to settle for second after finishing only .16 seconds behind the leader with a time 1:01.51. Teammate Patrick Greaney placed sixth with a time of 1:02.79.

To wrap up the Invitational, a team of Zipp, Reingold, Hwang and Wilt swam to  victory in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:10.79, more than three seconds ahead of the second-place finisher.

The Diplomats return to the pool on Jan. 25 when F&M faces off against McDaniel in Centennial Conference (CC) action. The meet is set to begin at 6:00 p.m.

Men - Team Rankings - Final