MADISON, N.J. - The Catholic University men's swimming & diving team was defeated by Drew on Saturday afternoon in its season-opening meet by a score of 172-127.
The Cardinals placed first in four events to fall behind the Rangers, who topped Catholic for the first time in program history.
Drew took first in the meet's opening event, the 200-medley relay, with a time of 1:38.72. Catholic's foursome consisting of sophomore Jeffrey Schriefer-Flores, junior Chris Grunbok, senior Kevin Jay, and senior George Isaacs followed for second at 1:39.08. The Cardinals earned more points in the relay event by taking second through fifth.
Freshman Ellis Prescott earned his first career event win, and the team's first of the season, with his 10:22.38 time in the 1000-free distance event.
Schriefer-Flores (54.79) took second in the 100-back, followed by senior Dan Lawrey (59.90) and sophomore Alec Powers (1:00.48). Grunbok followed with a second-place finish in the 100-breast, and he was also trailed by a couple Catholic swimmers, freshman Ryan Iosim (1:04.45), sophomore Alex Farley (1:05.60).
Isaacs got the team's second event win of the day in the 50-free sprint with his 22.20 time, edging three Drew swimmers.
Junior Matthew Mahon touched second in the 100-free at 49.43. Prescott earned a second-place finish in the 500-free at 5:00.38.
Junior Gregory McCarthy took first place in the 100-fly with his winning time of 54.54, while Jay and Schriefer-Flores finished third and fourth, respectively.
Catholic had the winning relay time in the 200-freestyle event to end the meet. Isaacs, Jay, Schriefer-Flores, and Mahon finished with a 1:28.00 for first place.
Junior Will Chester led the way on the boards for the Cardinals in the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events. He placed third on 1-meter at 183.75 and second in the 3-meter with his 179.40 score.
The conference loss ends a historic streak of 18-straight Landmark meet victories for the three-time reigning Landmark Conference champions. Catholic's last conference meet defeat dates back almost five years, a loss to Susquehanna on Nov. 9, 2014.
The Cardinals return home for its first action of the season at the DuFour Pool next Saturday, October 26 against Scranton. The meet is set to begin at 1 p.m.
