CHESTERFIELD, Va. – An illness-ridden Franklin & Marshall men's swimming team battled its way to a third-place finish at the Yellow Jacket Invitational on Saturday, hosted by Randolph-Macon. The Diplomat totaled 373.5 points over the two days, while Washington & Lee took the team title with 766.
Timothy Gould continued his fast start to the season, reaching the podium twice on Saturday. In the 200-yard backstroke, Gould took the individual victory after his time of 1:56.56 was the fastest by more than a second. He was backed up by Maxwell Lyons, who touched the wall in 2:01.14 to earn seventh place and cap a strong F&M performance in the event.
Gould also asserted himself in the 100-yard backstroke, earning a tie for second place. The sophomore stormed back from a slight deficit at the turn to take silver in 53.91.
Jonathon Sinton put together a strong day of his own, beginning with a third-place finish in the 400-yard IM after clocking a time of 4:15.74. He was followed by Eric Lang, who took seventh at 4:20.71. Sinton then added a fifth-place finish in the last individual event of the night, the 200-yard butterfly, by finishing in 1:58.29. Cody Kalinowski (9th, 2:00.15) and Richard Perry (10th, 2:00.21) were close behind in a deep Diplomat effort.
Perry tallied a top-five finish of his own, finishing the 100-yard butterfly in 52.73 to take fifth place. Kalinowski earned 16th in the event with a mark of 54.36.
Matthew Pozmanter took seventh place in the 1650-yard freestyle with a time of 17:24.84, and Daniel Sanders took ninth in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:01.01) to round out F&M's top-10 finishes.
The Yellow Jacket Invitational is the only competition of the month for the Diplomats, who will return to action on Sunday, Jan. 15 by hosting Susquehanna.
