Nov 23, 2013
Stevens Institute of Technology welcomed their rivals The College of New Jersey to Hoboken for an epic-dual meet this past Saturday. The Lions and Ducks renewed their rivalry which has burned hotly since its inception in the 2010-11 season. Going into the meet, the Stevens men had already showcased a victory over DI Saint Peter’s College, and took top honors at the New York University Fall Invite. As one of only two home meets for the Ducks, the tightly contested Stevens-TCNJ meet is one to always get the blood up and pumping.
This year proved to be no different. The video footage of the meet can be found here. (Men’s 400 freestyle relay begins around 2:40.) The final relay keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole way through. Stevens is in lane 4 – watching the battle between them and the flanking TCNJ relays on either side is captivating.
As with all good rivalries, the story of Stevens’ victory hinged on the last relay, and indeed, on the final leg of that last relay. Going into the final event, the Ducks were down by one point to their Lion rivals. The team of Nick Noga, Tomasz Wolinski, Tyler Hessler and Shawn Hanak ripped through to victory, obliterating the pool record set last year by TCNJ at 3:09.20.
But even the fastest relay doesn’t win a meet all by itself. The Ducks who helped the team along to victory with their stalwart efforts in the lead up to the final race also competed very well. Stevens took first in seven events, and sophomore Ravi Sun gave the Ducks three of those seven victories individually. He won the 100 backstroke (51.58), the 200 backstroke (1:54.46) and the 200 individual medley (1:56.68). Along with teammates Joshua Lefeber, Austen Young and Hessler, Sun also raced on the runner up 200 medley relay which began the session.
Immediately thereafter, the two freshmen Mark Lippert and William Arnott went two-three in the 1000 freestyle (9:54.52-10:05.13). The victor there was Ryan Gajdzisz, a freshman from TCNJ who took the crown in 9:52.06. Later, he also won the 500 in 4:47.05.
Wolinski led the 1-2-3 showing of Ducks in the 200 freestyle (1:43.87). He was followed by Noga (1:44.76) and junior Alex Xu (1:44.85).
Lefeber and sophomore Dane Pilcher aided their team by going two-three in the 100 breaststroke (1:01.88 and 1:02.30, respectively). TCNJ’s James Shangle won the event in 58.29. His teammate Scott Vitabile followed it up with a win in the 200 butterfly (1:58.04). Then Hanak gave the Ducks their fourth victory in the afternoon, taking the 50 freestyle in 21.46.
If you do watch the video, you’ll notice that the pool the Ducks are competing in doesn’t have any place to warm down. So after the 50 freestyle, there’s an intermission, during which everyone gets ready for their next events. Post intermission, Hanak and Wolinski brought their speed to the table again, to go two-three in the 100 freestyle with 47.42 and 47.46, respectively. TCNJ’s Brett Pederson won the event, touching in 47.25.
In a meet where every point counted, Pilcher’s third place finish in the 200 breaststroke (2:14.48) and Arnott’s in the 500 freestyle (4:51.69) helped keep Stevens in the game. Young and Xu added their points as well, with both taking runner up in the 100 butterfly (52.37) and 200 individual medley (1:58.21), respectively.
The final event of the day, the 400 freestyle relay, served as the catapult to put the Ducks over the top for victory, giving them their second win ever over the Lions.
For complete meet results, click here.
Stevens will return to the pool December 6-8 for the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships.