ITHACA, N.Y. – The RPI men's and women's swimming & diving teams turned in several strong individual performances this afternoon in dual meet action against Ithaca College. The Engineers' men's squad fell by a score of 176.5-123.5, while the women dropped a 219-81 decision to the host Bombers.
Jason Weller led the charge for the RPI men with three individual victories, while
Kyler Thomas swept both diving competitions to highlight the Engineers' efforts. On the women's side,
Sierra Pargett,
Ellie Tandlmayer, and
Caroline Steeves each collected individual wins.
The RPI women opened their individual events with a victory from
Ellie Tandlmayer in the 1000 freestyle, as she touched first in 11:00.62 to secure the Engineers' first individual win of the afternoon.
Sierra Pargett continued her strong start to the season with three top-three finishes, claiming first place in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:54.57. Pargett also earned runner-up honors in the 100 freestyle (52.94), finishing just 0.13 seconds behind the winning time, and added a third-place showing in the 50 freestyle (24.68).
Caroline Steeves delivered one of the afternoon's closest finishes in the 200 backstroke, touching first in 2:07.50 to edge Ithaca's Riley Hauber by just three-hundredths of a second. Steeves also contributed a third-place finish in the 100 backstroke (58.93), following teammate
Daytona Duggan, who secured second place in 58.70.
In the breaststroke events, Katie Pierce collected a pair of third-place finishes for the Engineers, clocking 1:09.56 in the 100 breaststroke before adding a time of 2:30.84 in the 200 breaststroke.
Elizabeth Rose rounded out RPI's top-three individual performances with a third-place finish in the 100 butterfly, touching the wall in 59.03.
On the men's side,
Jason Weller paced the Engineers with a dominant showing across the freestyle and backstroke events, capturing three individual victories. Weller opened his afternoon with a win in the 200 freestyle (1:42.26), while
Owen Hamnett added a third-place finish in the same event with a time of 1:48.04.
Weller later returned to win the 200 backstroke in 1:55.22, leading an RPI one-two finish alongside Hamnett, who touched second in 1:56.30.
The Engineers' standout added his third victory in the 500 freestyle, where Weller posted a winning time of 4:48.63, edging Ithaca's Jack True by just nine-hundredths of a second in another tightly contested race.
Peter Meehan added another victory for RPI in the 100 breaststroke, touching first in 58.33.
Nick Napoli contributed a third-place finish in the event with a time of 1:00.71, while
Lucas Foung earned third place in the 200 breaststroke (2:13.62).
Mark Yukhno delivered another highlight in the 100 butterfly, finishing in a dead heat for first place with Ithaca's Wyatt Deboyace as both swimmers touched in 52.60.
Rittivuth Chea followed closely behind with a third-place finish of 52.96, giving the Engineers two of the top three spots in the event.
Chea also contributed a runner-up finish in the 100 backstroke, touching second in 52.80, while
Tyler Kim rounded out the Engineers' top-three swimming performances with a third-place finish in the 200 individual medley (2:00.33).
RPI found additional success on the diving boards, where
Kyler Thomas swept both competitions to provide key points for the Engineers. Thomas captured first place in the 3-meter event with 232.00 points before returning to win the 1-meter competition with a score of 274.85.
Jason Koster added a pair of podium finishes, placing second on the 1-meter board (210.90) and third in the 3-meter competition (196.60).
Bryce McCann completed an RPI sweep of the top three spots in the 1-meter event, securing third place with 155.25 points.
