George Washington University
Old Dominion
Men's Swim & Dive Closes Regular Season with Win
1/21/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving
NORFOLK, Va. - The George Washington men's swimming and diving team closed the regular season with a road victory at Old Dominion on Saturday afternoon.
The Colonials came away with a 162-136 triumph to close the regular season with a 4-3 record. GW claimed eight race wins, led by freshman Moritz Fath's two individual victories, as well as pool records set by junior Gustav Hokfelt and freshman Andrew Cho.
"Very good today for our men as we managed to get the win against ODU," said head coach James Winchester. "Big highlights from our backstrokers as Gustav Hokfelt and Andrew Cho took the wins and set new pool records here, so very good efforts on that front."
Fath began his day with a win in the 200-yard freestyle in 1:41.34. The reigning A-10 Co-Rookie of the Week went on to win the 500 free in 4:41.83 ahead of senior Liam Huffman in second (4:43.89). Fath closed his day with a second-place finish in the 400 free relay alongside sophomore Alexander Auster, freshman Max Forstenhaeusler and Cho (3:05.77). The team of Hokfelt, sophomore Patrick Lersch and seniors Bogdan Balteanu and Andrea Bolognesi won the 400 free relay in 3:05.69.
Hokfelt added to his strong day with an individual win in the 100 backstroke, setting a new pool record in 50.22 ahead of freshman Emils Pone in third (52.18). Cho led the way in the 200 back to set a pool record of his own, touching the wall first in 1:50.99 as Hokfelt claimed second in 1:52.70. Hokfelt also teamed up with Bolognesi, Pone and junior Adam Drury to take second in the 1:33.64 as the squad of Cho, Balteanu, Auster and senior Ben Fitch claimed third in 1:35.49.
Huffman claimed a victory of his own in the 1,000 free in 9:44.29. Sophomore Josh Monacelli won the 200 butterfly in 1:54.35 ahead of Fitch in second (1:54.87).
Forstenhaeusler rounded out GW's swimming victories in the 200 IM, clocking in at 1:52.31 to jump from ninth to seventh on the Colonials' all-time top 10 list. Pone took third in the event in 1:54.31. Forstenhaeusler added a second-place finish in the 100 free (46.74).
On the boards, sophomore Jake Ortiz won on 1-meter (279.55) and placed second on 3-meter (248.10).
"Jake Oritz was very solid on the boards again today with some big dives to come away with a win - today was a total team effort," said Winchester.
Bolognesi also posted a strong day in the pool, taking second in both the 100 breaststroke (57.20) and the 100 fly (50.57).
Auster and Lersch rounded out GW's top performances, taking second (21.23) and third (21.76), respectively, in the 50 free.
"ODU definitely came out with a lot of fire in the first relay and gave us a really competitive meet, but our boys stuck together and really competed very hard and stayed committed at the end to pull out a good win against a good team," said Winchester. "To finish the season with a winning record is definitely something that as a staff and a program we're very proud of, but now we have to put our heads down and focus on these last three and a half weeks now for our Championship season."
The Colonials next compete at the 2017 Atlantic 10 Championships at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio, from Feb. 15-18.
Players Mentioned
