Diplomats Run Centennial Table… Again
GETTYSBURG, Pa. - On the strength of a 122-83 win at Gettysburg, Franklin & Marshall wrapped up its third consecutive season and 22nd consecutive Centennial Conference (CC) meet without a loss. F&M (6-2, 6-0 CC) won eight of 11 races with the Bullets' (5-4, 4-2 CC) Matt Libby and a Diplomats' disqualification breaking up an otherwise flawless afternoon.
Matt Jaffee, Tom Grabiak, David Apple and Zach Wilt fired the first salvo at the Bullets with an emphatic win in the 400-yard medley relay. The Diplomats' foursome posted a 3:36.20, a time nearly five seconds better than the Gettysburg entry.
After Jake Reingold posted a 12 second win in the 1,000-yard freestyle, Libby claimed his first win of the day, blasting the field in the 200-yard free with a 1:43.30. Libby's momentum was squelched by Tom Bergstrom's quarter second win over Thomas Everett in the 50-yard free. Bergstrom swam a 22.28. F&M won the next pair of races before Libby topped Bergstrom in the 100-yard free. In between, F&M seniors, Matt Jaffee and Tom Grabiak posted wins in the 200-yard individual medley and butterfly. Grabiak led an F&M sweep of the top three spots in his event. Grabiak's 1:56.22 was the only time under the two-minute mark.
Jaffee followed up with 5.02 second win in the 200-yard backstroke. His 1:56.76 was the only sub-two-minute mark in the event. Reingold , who built F&M's lead in the first individual race of the day, extended it with first place points in the last individual race of the day. Reingold made his final touch at 4:53.71, nearly two seconds ahead of Gettysburg's Drew Close.
The Diplomats return to action in two weeks with their sights set on the Centennial Conference crown.