Diplomat Men Lead After Day One

LANCASTER, Pa. - With the first of three days of the Centennial Conference swim Championships on the books, Franklin & Marshall's men's team pulled out in front with 261 team points, giving the Diplomats an 70.5 point lead on the field. Swarthmore sits second with 190.5 team points. Seven different swimmers managed to medal in individual events on the first night, with the hosting Diplomats winning championship gold in four of the night's five events. Including relays, nine different F&M swimmers collected medals on Friday.

The Diplomats started accumulating team points in the night's first event. The team of Peter Fishler, Phil Rehders, Kalin Pavlov, Val Perfanov squeaked out a .07 second win in the 200-yard free relay. Perfanov clicked off F&M's clock at 1:25.55 followed by Dickinson's anchor, Rob Franciscovich touched at 1:26.62.

Derek Nowak picked up the night's first individual gold in the 500-yard freestyle, while his teammates provided the depth to open a lead in the team scoring. He clocked a 4:41.09 for the 20-team points, edging out Swarthmore's Stephen Shymon by slightly less than four seconds. Matt Young contributed 16-team points with a bronze in the event, while Conor Finnegan's 10th place finish yielded 10-team points.

The lead grew larger still following the 200-yard individual medley. Two swimmers medaled, and three more finished in the points, led by gold medalist Tom Grabiak. Grabiak finished 1.05 seconds ahead of teammate Matt Jaffee, while Greg Mackinnon took fourth. Dan Kritzer and Audun Lier took 14th and 16th places, respectively, for four team points.

The only event F&M didn't win sill produced two medals and an abundance of team points. Douglass Gilchrist-Scoot of Swarthmore edged Fishler by .06 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle final. Gilchrist-Scott touched in 21.53 seconds, followed to the wall by Fishler at 21.49. Rehders claimed a bronze for F&M in the race with a 21.66. Perfanov, Pavlov, and John Kelly also finished in the points.

The Diplomats closed the night the same way they started. A second relay produced a second gold medal. Mackinnon, Grabiak. Perfanov, and Rehders swam to a 5.02 second win in the 400-yard medley relay, logging a time of 3:29.10. The Diplomats second entry of Young, Fishler, Kritzer and Kelly grabbed the 18 eighth place points for the Diplomats.

F&M will continue its Centennial Championship defense tomorrow. Preliminaries get underway at 10:00 a.m. The finals are set for 6:00 p.m. The entire meet is being streamed live on B2 Networks, and real-time updates are available on GoDiplomats.com.

Team Scoring
1. Franklin & Marshall 261
2. Swarthmore 190.5
3. Dickinson 163.5
4. Gettysburg 133
5. Washington 116
6. McDaniel 79
7. Ursinus 66

Men's Medal Summary Through Friday

Peter Fishler
Gold: 200 Free Relay
Silver: 50 Free

Tom Grabiak
Gold: 400 Medley Relay, 200 I.M.

Matt Jaffee
Silver: 200 I.M.

Greg Mackinnon
Gold : 400 Medley Relay

Derek Nowak
Gold: 500 Free

Kalin Pavlov
Gold: 200 Free Relay

Val Perfanov
Gold: 400 Medley Relay, 200 Free Relay

Phil Rehders:
Gold: 400 Medley Relay, 200 Free Relay
Bronze: 50 Free

Matt Young
Bronze: 500 Free