St. Mary's City, Md. – St. Mary's College of Maryland men's swimming took on The Catholic University of America Saturday afternoon in their regular-season finale. The visiting Cardinals (6-5) posted a 126-70 non-conference win over St. Mary's (6-9).
Junior Michael Speer (Springfield, Va./West Springfield) paced St. Mary's on the day with three silver medals while senior captain Bobby Witkop (Chevy Chase, Md./Bethesda-Chevy Chase), junior Grant Burgess (Fallston, Md./Fallston), and sophomore Matt Walchuck (Middletown, Md./Middletown) each a pair of second-place finishes.
The Seahawks started the meet with a second-place finish in the 400 medley relay in 3:47.81 as junior Zach Lilley (Myersville, Md./Middletown), first-year Kieran Broder (Olney, Md./Georgetown Prep), Witkop, and Speer swam on the relay.
Burgess followed suit with a second-place finish of his own in the 1,000 freestyle in 10:17.78 while Speer collected his second silver of the day in the 200 freestyle in 1:52.14. Walchuck nabbed a second-place finish in the 200 individual medley in 2:03.31 and then added another silver medal in the 100 freestyle in 49.83.
Another second-place finish came in the 400 freestyle relay in 3:23.97 behind the efforts of Burgess, sophomore Andrew Braker (Olney, Md./Sherwood), Witkop, and Speer.
Lilley tallied a third-place finish in the 50 freestyle in 23.13 while picking up a fourth-place finish in the 200 backstroke in 2:09.09.
Junior Kian Karimi (Kensington, Md./Walter Johnson) led the Seahawks in the 200 butterfly, coming in third in 2:07.88, while Witkop finished fourth in 2:08.23.
Burgess was the team leader in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:00.33 for third while first-year Max Madden (Cape St. Clair, Md./Broadneck) came in fourth in 5:10.39.
In the 200 breaststroke, Walchuck claimed a third-place finish in 2:22.44 while Broder placed fourth in 2:24.74.
St. Mary's will now turn its focus to preparing for the 2015 Capital Athletic Conference Swimming Championships which will take place on February 20-22 on the St. Mary's campus.
Facebook: StMarysAthletics
Twitter: @smcseahawks, #SMCMswim, #SeahawkAthletics
Instagram: @smcseahawks
