ANNVILLE, Pa. - The Hood College men's swim team extended its school record for wins to 11 with a 174-87 win at Lebanon Valley in Middle Atlantic Conference dual meet action.
The Blazers won 11 of 14 events and in two of the three events won by the Dutchmen, Hood (11-3, 8-2) had the second, third, and fourth place finishers. Both relay events saw the Blazers take first and second.
Scott Clark (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. / American Heritage) and Cameron Rogers (Severn, Md. / Archbishop Spalding) won two individual events apiece, and Clark added a third win as a member of the 200-meter freestyle relay. Victor Muleki (Irving, Texas / MacArthur) was a member of both winning relays and outsprinted the field in the 50 free. Alex Bodine (Frederick, Md. / Urbana) was victorious in the 200 free and swam on the winning 200 medley relay.
The junior led off the winners in the day's first event. Connor Eliff (Frederick, Md. / Frederick), Muleki and Lucas Mestas-Nunez (Corpus Christi, Texas / Bluff) followed as the foursome combined for a time of 1:53.39. Hood's B team of Chris Gardner (Smyrna, Del. / Cab Calloway School of the Arts), BJ Daisey (Lewes, Del. / Sussex Tech), Michael Curry (Charlotte, N.C. / Charlotte Catholic) and Jonathan Collier (Darby, Pa. / Home Schooled) placed second in 1:54.21.
Rogers continued his dominance in the distance freestyle events. He claimed victory in the 800 in 9:09.89, defeating his closest competitor by 1:15. Later in the meet, the freshman won the 400 free in 4:20.54, over 20 seconds faster than Gardner's second place time.
Clark returned to the pool for the first time since November 6 and won both the 100 backstroke and 100 free. He won the backstroke in 1:04.50 and led the Blazers to a one-two finish in the 100 free. Clark touched the wall in 56.19, just ahead of Mestas-Nunez, who was second in 56.90.
Bodine won the 200 free with a time of 2:07.09, just 0.84 in front of the runner up. Daisey took third in the event in 2:09.73.
Daisey later swam a 2:38.93 in the 200 breaststroke for the win. Kenny Garced-Valle (Frederick, Md. / Tuscarora) claimed third in 2:51.76.
In the 50 free, Muleki picked up a win by over a second with his time of 24.74. Gardner missed out on second by just 0.08 after going up and back in 25.88.
Curry won the 200 individual medley in 2:27.05, defeating Alessio Mario (Mullica Hill, N.J. / Clearview Regional) by just over two seconds. Mario placed second in 2:29.21.
The Blazers finished the meet by taking first and second in the 200 free relay. Muleki, Eliff, Gardner and Clark joined forces for a time of 1:42.24 and the win. Bodine, Mario, Mestas-Nunez and Collier were second in 1:43.12.
In the 100 breast, Eliff, Mario and Garced-Valle finished second, third, and fourth, respectively. Eliff was the runner up in 1:14.75. Mario swam a time of 1:19.51, a half second quicker than Garced-Valle.
Curry led Clark and Collier to an identical finish in the 100 butterfly. Curry was second with a time of 1:04.56. Clark added a third place finish to his afternoon in 1:07.23 and Collier was four in 1:07.87.
Coller had a second place finish in the 200 fly with a time of 2:37.82. Peter Shepherd (New Market, Md. / Linganore) was third in the event in 2:52.90.
The meet was Hood's final tune up before the Middle Atlantic Conference Championships on February 13-16 in York, Pennsylvania.