Tim Connolly
Tim Connolly

Bentley Returns from Break to Swim Past St. Michael’s

COLCHESTER, Vt. – Recording a half-dozen 1-2-3 finishes and capturing 12 of 16 events overall, the Bentley University men's swimming and diving team cruised to a 149.5-130.5 victory over St. Michael's College Wednesday afternoon at the Ross Sports Center. The win in the team's first meet in a month extended the dual winning streak of the 5-3 Falcons to four.

Eight different swimmers captured single events, including junior Tim Connolly (Dorcester/ Boston Latin Acad.) who helped the Falcons win the meet-opening 400 yard medley relay in 3:46.29, Bentley's best time of the season. He also was first to finish in the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:03.59. That relay also included senior Janco Cornelius (Brookfield, Conn./Brookfield HS), sophomore Colin McCarthy (Glastonbury, Conn./Northwest Catholic HS) and junior Sebastian Bury (Bellevue, Wash./ Newport Senior HS).

The winners of the individual events that Bentley swept the top three positions included sophomore Dennis Witol (Bowie, Md./Eleanor Roosevelt HS) in the 1650 free (18:05.34), freshman Aiden Karam (Norwich, Conn./Norwich Free Acad.) in the 200 free (1:51.76) and sophomore Gregory Coleman (Lake Ronkonkoma, N.Y./Sachem North HS) in the 500 free (5:19.12).

Bentley also went 1-2-3 in both one-meter diving events with junior Colton Bridge (Tolland, Conn./Tolland HS) the winner in both with scores of 166.05 and 240.90. It marked the seventh straight meet that he has swept the diving.

Bentley's other 1-2-3 showing came in the 200 free relay with Witol, freshman Chris Vukas (Randolph, N.J./Randolph HS), junior Nick Toselli (Barrington, R.I./Barrington HS) and sophomore Liam Bartlett (Syracuse, N.Y./William Nottingham HS) winning in 1:32.94.

The other Falcon first-place finishes were posted by senior Josh Witty (Los Gatos, Calif./ Los Gatos HS) in the 50 backstroke (26.50), senior Connor Mulvey-Hudson (Ardmore, Pa./St. Joseph's Prep) in the 50 breaststroke, sophomore Matt Ahlmeyer (Morris Plains, N.J./Morristown HS) in the 200 butterfly and freshman Jon Boains (Unionville, Conn./Farmington HS) in the 200 individual medley (2:09.20).

Bentley's final three dual meets will be at home, beginning Sunday against Keene State (1 pm).