Friday night the TCNJ Lions threw down against Montclair State University in their New Jersey Athletic Conference opener at the TCNJ Aquatic Center. The Lions came away with victories in both relays, ten individual events and swept the diving for a final tally of 189-102.
Scott Vitabile led the field with three individual event victories and played a role in the victorious 400 freestyle relay. Vitabile’s victories came in the 200 freestyle (1:$3.78), 100 freestyle (47.32), and 100 butterfly (51.97) events. On the 400 freestyle relay – the final event of the night – he joined forces with Harrison Yi, Adam Coppola, and Andrew Nesbitt for a final effort of 3:18.09.
On the boards, David Adlai Gail also displayed some dominance, wining both the 1 and 3 meter events. He tallied 174.00 points on 1 meter; teammate Matthew Bendik was runner up with 126.98. On three meter, Adlai-Gail put up a score of 225. 30.
Alex Skoog showcased his range with victories in the 100 backstroke (53.13), 200 IM (2:07.66), and a runner-up finish in the 500 freestyle (4:54.49). Skoog was second only behind teammate Yi who finished in 4:45.43. The Lions completed a first-through-third sweep of the 500 with a third place finish from David Madigan (4:56.94). Skoog swam the fly leg of the winning 200 medley relay; the quartet of Coppola, Nesbitt, Skoog and Madigan finished in 1:36.58.
Other victories for the Lions include Nesbitt’s 100 breaststroke (58.83). Nesbitt went 1-2 with teammate Chris O’Sullivan (1:01.36) in the event. Sam Maquet claimed the win in the 200 butterfly (2:00.82) and Coppola added another event win in the 50 freestyle (21.61). Andrew Ro grabbed the 200 breast victory for the Lions (2:15.02).
On the women’s side, TCNJ picked up eight individual event victories, and swept the diving and relays on the way to a 178-108 victory over Montclair.
Brenna Strollo, Marta Lawler and Debbie Meskin all contributed two individual event victories to the Lions’ total. Divers Hannah Raymond and Sarah Grassi went 1-2 in the diving events to contribute as well. Raymond won 1 meter (189.00) while Grassi won 3 meter (284.85), with the pair going 1-2 on both boards.
The Lions got off to a good start with a victory from Strollo, Meskin, Lawler and Ali Huber in the 100 medley relay (1:30.07). From there, Strollo, Meskin and Lawler went on to record double victories in each of their specialty strokes. Strollo claimed both backstrokes (100 – 1:02.51; 200 – 2:13.00), Meskin secured the butterflies (100 – 1:03.11; 200 – 2:20.68), and Lawler swept the breaststrokes (100 – 1:11.39; 200 – 2:32.38). Huber got in on the relay’s swing of victories with a first place finish in the 5o freestyle (25.26).
In the final event of the meet, the Lions capped off their night with a victory in the 400 freestyle relay. Robin Lukens, Cassidy Bergeron, Huber and Emily Rothstein teamed up to win in a 3:49.13. Rothstein also registered a victory in the 200 freestyle earlier in the meet (2:03.35).
The Lions return to the pool Saturday, Nov 5th at Ramapo College.