The men's swim team returned to action on Friday night, hosting Rose-Hulman in the Tiger's senior night and last meet before the NCAC Championships.
The 10th ranked Tigers won the meet 202-57 and improved to 7-0 on the season for a second straight year.
"The end results were great. It was senior night so the focus was on them," head coach Adam Cohen said. "We gave some guys a chance to experiment, use different race strategies and try different strokes for the first time."
Freshman Casey Hooker led the team with three individual wins posting a time of 52.92 in the 100-yard backstroke, 1:58.9 in the 200 back and 2:00.47 in the 200 individual medley. Junior Matt Kukurugya posted two individual wins in the 100 breaststrokes in 1:00.69 and the 200 breast in 2:14.18.
Other winners on Friday include freshman Jordan Bantista (200 freestyle, 1:46.93), sophomore Tommy Hiller (200 butterfly, 2:14.18), freshman Matt Bacinich (50 free, 21.86), senior Dean Contreras (one-meter diving, 140.30), senior Dylan Klossner (100 free, 49.09) and junior Robby Spichiger (500 free, 4:52.17).
Bacinich, who took first in the 50-freestyle and was apart of the 200-medley relay, saw Friday's meet as a big success for the Tigers.
"The meet had a lot of emotions running," Bacinich said. "It was senior night and the seniors really wanted to do well. One of my favorite moments the entire season was getting to see Dylan Klossner break 50 seconds for his 100 free on Friday night."
Bacinich gives a lot of credit to the five seniors —Contreras, Brendan Flores, Klossner and Tom Smith — for leading this team to where they are now.
"Our seniors are the core of the team and they are setting us up for great things," Bacinich said. "This team has so much potential going into conference and we are going show up big."
This was the final meet for the Tigers before the NCAC Championships on Feb. 15 in Canton, Ohio.
The Tigers now head into the conference championships ranked 10th in the nation and will compete against the top two ranked teams in the country in Kenyon College and Denison University.
Cohen understands the pressure a meet like this can cause.
"We have to stay focused on our game and strategy in conference because that is when we qualify for nationals," Cohen said. "If we can stay focused on us and not get too caught up in what teams like Kenyon, Denison, and all these others schools are doing then we will be ready to go on to Nationals."
