St. Mary's City, Md. – Senior captain Grant Burgess (Fallston, Md./Fallston) led St. Mary's College of Maryland men's swimming with three first-place spots and a school record Saturday afternoon in the regular-season finale. The Seahawks (7-4, 4-1 CAC) were triumphant over Salisbury University (4-5, 3-2 CAC), posting a 104-101 Capital Athletic Conference victory.
St. Mary's owned a 100-88 advantage heading into the final event – the 200 freestyle relay. Salisbury would need to claim a 1-2 finish in the event in order to win. The Sea Gulls' 'A' relay (1:28.95) earned 11 points for their first-place finish, just edging the 'A' relay for St. Mary's (1:29.09) by 14-hundredths of a second. However, the Seahawks' second-place finish was enough to secure the three-point win.
Leading St. Mary's to the win were first-year Colin Cassady (Phoenix, Md./Calvert Hall), junior Andrew Braker (Olney, Md./Sherwood), and senior captains Zach Lilley (Myersville, Md./Middletown) and Michael Speer (Springfield, Va./West Springfield). Today's win gave the Seahawks a second-place finish in the regular-season conference standings.
Burgess captured the 1,000 freestyle in his first event of the meet, coming in with a time of 9:59.13. His time set the school record in the event, breaking the mark of 10:00.82 set by Billy DeBoissiere '13 on November 12, 2011. Junior Andrew Braun (Bowie, Md./DeMatha Catholic) helped the Seahawks land a 1-2 punch in the 1,000 free as Braun placed in second (10:27.59).
Burgess took first in the 100 butterfly (54.68) before leading another 1-2 finish in the 500 freestyle as he won in 4:52.55 and junior Matt Walchuck (Middletown, Md./Middletown) claimed second (4:57.86). Led by Burgess, sophomore Lucas Delgado (Bowie, Md./Gonzaga College) earned a third-place spot in the 100 fly with a time of 55.84.
Walchuck also served St. Mary's well against the Sea Gulls, earning two gold medals. He commanded the 200 freestyle (1:49.50) as well as the 200 individual medley (2:01.05). In the 200 IM, St. Mary's went one and two as Braker finished second in 2:03.87. Senior Kian Karimi (Kensington, Md./Walter Johnson) arose in third in the 200 free in 1:54.97.
The Seahawks started the meet with a second-place medal in the 200 medley relay (1:41.21). The relay team featured Lilley, sophomore Kieran Broder (Olney, Md./Georgetown Prep), Delgado and Speer. Cassady also saw success in the 50 freestyle, coming in second place (22.34), while Speer earned a silver medal in the 100 freestyle in 48.98 followed by Cassady in third (49.88).
Lilley staked a second-place spot in the 100 backstroke (56.16). Likewise, Broder tallied a second-place finish for the Seahawks in the 100 breaststroke (1:04.82).
The Seahawks will be back in action on February 19-21 when they host the Capital Athletic Conference Men's and Women's Swimming Championships.
Facebook: StMarysAthletics
Twitter: @smcseahawks, #SMCMswim, #SeahawkAthletics
Instagram: @smcseahawks
