St. Mary's City, Md. – St. Mary's College of Maryland men's swimming claimed five gold medals en route to a pair of season-opening wins Saturday afternoon. The Seahawks (2-0, 1-0 CAC) tallied a 117-88 win over Goucher College plus a 127-78 Capital Athletic Conference victory over Marymount (Va.) University.
Junior Michael Speer (Springfield, Va./West Springfield) picked up two wins to pace the Seahawks. Speer led a 1-2 punch in the 100 freestyle, winning the event in 49.25, while sophomore Andrew Braker (Olney, Md./Sherwood) followed in second (50.45).
Speer then anchored the winning 400 freestyle relay with sophomore Matt Walchuck (Middletown, Md./Middletown), senior captain Bobby Witkop (Chevy Chase, Md./Bethesda-Chevy Chase), and Braker.
Junior Grant Burgess (Fallston, Md./Fallston) paced St. Mary's to a 1-2 punch in the 1,000 freestyle with a first-place finish in 10:21.37 while junior Kian Karimi (Kensington, Md./Walter Johnson) came in second (11:08.37).
First-years Max Madden (Cape St. Clair, Md./Broadneck) and Kieran Broder (Olney, Md./Georgetown Prep) each earned gold medals in their collegiate debut. Madden touched the wall first in the 500 freestyle in 5:07.06 followed by Walchuck in second (5:07.59) while Broder won the 200 breaststroke in 2:22.42.
The Seahawks finished second in the 400 medley relay behind junior Zach Lilley (Myersville, Md./Middletown), Broder, Burgess, and Speer.
Braker picked up a second-place finish in the 50 freestyle in 22.60 while Walchuck was second in the 400 individual medley (4:29.20) followed by Madden in third in 4:30.54. Burgess went second in the 200 butterfly in 2:01.68.
Witkop had the team's best finish in the 200 freestyle as he came in third in 1:53.77 while Lilley claimed third in the 200 backstroke in 2:09.48.
St. Mary's will be back in the pool next Friday, November 7th as the Seahawks travel to Ashland, Virginia to take on Randolph-Macon College in a non-conference dual meet at 4:00 p.m.
Facebook: StMarysAthletics
Twitter: @smcseahawks, #SMCMswim, #SeahawkAthletics
Instagram: @smcseahawks
