The men’s swimming and diving team won the Upper New York State Collegiate Swimming Association and Empire 8 Championships Saturday at the Webster Aquatic Center in Webster, N.Y. The Bombers rallied from a 67-point deficit in the team standings to claim their first state and conference titles since 2003-04. The Bombers finished 16 points ahead of second place Stevens Institute of Technology with 1,325 points in a 13-team field.
The Blue and Gold got off to a strong start Wednesday when junior Antoine Connors won the 50-yard freestyle for the third straight year in 21.18 seconds and freshman Connor White, sophomore Jake Lichter, freshman Taylor Van Cott and sophomore Jake Robbins won the 200-yard medley relay in a school record time of 1:34.04.
On Thursday, Van Cott won the 100-yard butterfly in a school record time of 51.13 seconds and junior Jeff Rapp set another school record and met the NCAA B qualifying standard by winning the 400-yard individual medley in 4:06.53. During the third day of competition, White set another school record and also made the NCAA B cut by winning the 100-yard backstroke in 51.34 seconds.
A second place finish by Rapp in the 200-yard backstroke, 95 points from the team’s divers in the preliminaries and finals of the 3-meter diving event and a second-place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay on Saturday pushed the Bombers over the top for their fourth Empire 8 championship.
The Bombers will wrap up their postseason on March 23-26 at the NCAA Championships in Knoxville, Tenn.
