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SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The Coast Guard Academy men's swimming and diving team visited Springfield College for the teams' final dual meet of 2024. The Bears won 11 events along the way to beat their hosts, 175-120.
The Coast Guard remains undefeated at 7-0, while the Pride moves to 2-3 as they head to the 2024 final competition at Worcester Polytechnic Institute's annual Gompei Invitational. The meeting will last for three days, from December 6 to 8.
The Bears started the afternoon well as a team composed of Zachary McGowen (Springfield, Va.), Matt Carper (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Noah Rice (Wilmington, Del.), and team captain Colin Twiss (Mahwa, N.J.). He won the 400-yard medley relay with a time of 3:29.56.
Twiss and Reice picked up several singles victories during the afternoon. The 2023-24 All-American won the 200-yard freestyle (1:43.08) and 100-yard freestyle (46.48), while Rice won the 200-yard butterfly (1:59.67) and 100-yard butterfly (50.80). With his time last beating Springfield's Jonathan Chan (Hong Kong) by 0.01 seconds.
Other Coast Guard individual winners were McGowen with a 21.88 in the 50-yard freestyle. Elliott Maravich (Pittsburgh, Pa.), who won the 1,000-yard freestyle with a time of 10:12.35; Team captain and 2023-24 All-American Sean Lyman (Pennsburg, Pa.), whose 53.84 in the 100-yard backstroke edged teammate Michael Carden (Kennesaw, Ga.) by just 0.62 seconds; Isaac Fox (Woodbridge, Va.) with a time of 1:58.75 in the 200-yard backstroke; and Grant Hudson (Peachtree City, Ga.) in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:54.93. Blaise Minkler (Hilton Head Island, South Carolina) won the 200-yard breaststroke (2:07.14) after losing first place in the 100-yard dash earlier in the day to Matt Quinney of Springfield (Belchertown, Mass.) by 0.03 seconds.
Colebrin Blanchette (Edwardsville, Ill.) placed third in the 1-meter (180.68) and 3-meter boards (189.75), while Drew Harris (Morrisville, Pa.) placed fourth (161.56) and fifth (129.68). Both events were won by Christian Butler of Springfield (North Haven, Conn.), the NEWMAC Diver of the Year.
The Bears close out the 2024 Jayden Szczerka Memorial Tournament at Wesleyan (Connecticut) University. The annual two-day meeting begins Dec. 6 at 6 p.m
