The men’s swimming and diving team defeated Alfred University, the defending conference champions, 130–117 in the Bombers’ penultimate dual meet of their 2009-10 campaign Saturday.

The intensity in the Hill Center reached a peak in the meet’s final event with Ithaca holding onto an eight-point lead. Sophomore Antoine Connors, freshman Chris Caldwell, junior Steve Croucher and freshman Jake Robbins led the Bombers to victory in the 400-yard freestyle relay, securing the win.

When asked how important this meet is considering that the team is entering the home stretch of the season, Diving Coach Nate Brisley said it’s huge.

“It’s good to be starting the peak process now,” Brisley said. “[The Bombers] came ready to fight for every hundredth of a second and it showed.”

Head Coach Kevin Markwardt, who said he was more concerned about how well his squad swam and not whether they won or lost, was pleasantly surprised at his team’s victory.

“If we had swum this well and lost, it still would have been fine,” Markwardt said. “The key is, ‘Did we perform well?’”

Sophomore Jeff Rapp performed especially well winning two events, the 200-yard individual medley in 1:59.54 and the 200-yard backstroke in 1:57.62.

On the diving board, the Bombers continue to excel as sophomore Derek Rand won the 1-meter diving competition with a score of 262.05 points.

“Derek’s performance being no more than 15 points away from qualifying for nationals is absolutely huge,” Brisley said. “That’s exactly what the team needed — they needed everyone to step up.”

Senior diver Andrew Longcore said that it has been a team effort throughout the season allowing the Bombers to succeed.

“We’ve all just realized that we have a really good shot this year, so we’re all kind of stepping up when we need to, working hard and pushing through it and getting what we need to get done,” Longcore said.

The Blue and Gold stepped up from the beginning by winning the meet’s first event, the 400-yard medley relay, in 3:39.98. The relay team was comprised of freshman Jake Lichter, junior Jerry Diamond, Rapp and Connors.

Entering their final meet of the season, Markwardt said the team is right where they should be.

“The whole thing seems to be coming together really well,” he said. “When you get to compete like this it just gives you that much more when you get into that championship meet, you’ve been there. We don’t need to be any faster than we are right now.”

The Bombers conclude their regular season at 2 p.m. Saturday when they host Union College in the Hill Center Pool.