George Washington University
Atlantic 10 Championship
Men’s Swimming and Diving Crowned Atlantic 10 Champions for Third Consecutive Season
2/18/2023 11:48:00 PM | Men's Swimming and Diving
Buff and Blue have won seven of the past eight A-10 Championships
GENEVA, Ohio - Champions again.
The George Washington Men's Swimming and Diving team made history on Saturday night completing another dominant run at the A-10 Championships and being crowned kings of the A-10 for the third consecutive season. The men's program continues to be the standard in the A-10 as they have now won seven out of the last eight conference championships, which includes four out of the last five years under A-10 Coach of the Year Brian Thomas.
The Buff and Blue set the tone early on Wednesday, maximizing their possible points on the shorter first night. Both night-one relays resulted in gold medals, and the Colonials established a new mark to beat in the A-10 for the men's 200-yard medley relay.
GW held a lead after night one and never let it go, finishing the meet with a total of 783 points, which was 275.5 more than the second-place team.
The dominance this week was highlighted by 26 total medals, 12 of which were gold. GW managed to set three A-10 records, one A-10 meet record and a plethora of program records.
The Buff and Blue saw 18 student-athletes score double-digit points, with the most points coming from veteran swimmer Marek Osina.
"The men's meet was a little tighter than the women's, and rightfully so, I think the league has improved top to bottom," Thomas said. "I was really happy with the way a lot of our underclassmen stepped up into big roles. You think about Connor Rodgers, he came in here and all of a sudden he's the school record holder in the 400-IM and 200-fly as a sophomore. If you see the kid work everyday, you know why that's the case.
"Beyond that, we have contributors at every level. From our fifth-years to our first-years, it's a pretty balanced attack. Winning three in a row is truly special, and doing so with a target on your back is not easy to do."
Night Four Highlights:
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Sophomore Philip Moldovanu started off the night by breaking the program record in the 1650-yard freestyle. Moldovanu finished in second place (15:09.60) by less than a second, which beat the previous conference record.
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Karol Mlynarczyk and Ryan Patterson submitted top-three swims in the 200-yard backstroke. Mlynarczyk topped the group and won gold (1:43.10) while Patterson took bronze (1:45.09).
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Connor Rodgers left his mark on the meet in the final individual swimming event. Rodgers set a new program and A-10 record in the 200-yard butterfly (1:44.47), topping the previous mark of 1:45.17.
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The A-10 record in the 100-yard freestyle was matched when junior phenom Djurdje Matic tied the conference record with a 43.42 swim. Matic won his third individual gold medal of the meet while setting a new program record and adding to his hardware collection.
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Marek Osina added to his collection of medals with a win (1:57.36) in the 200-yard backstroke final. It was Osina's second gold medal and third individual medal of the meet.
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The men wrapped up the meet with a silver medal (2:55.72) in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Matic, Wehlan, Mlynarczyk and Sivaramakrishnan swam the meet's final event.
GW Medals:
Relay:
200-yard freestyle relay (gold)
200-yard medley relay (gold)
800-yard freestyle relay (gold)
400-yard freestyle relay (silver)
Individual:
Spencer Bystrom (1m - silver)
Preston Lin (100 breast - silver)
Djurdje Matic (50 free - silver) (100 fly - gold) (100 free - gold)
Karol Mlynarczyk (100 back - gold) (200 back - gold)
Philip Moldovanu (500 free - bronze) (1650 free - silver)
Marek Osina (200 IM - gold) (400 IM - silver) (200 breast - gold)
Ryan Patterson (100 back - silver) (200 back - bronze)
Bode Ringenbach (200 IM - silver) (400 IM - bronze)
Connor Rodgers (400 IM - gold) (200 fly - gold)
Ganesh Sivaramakrishnan (100 back - bronze)
Matthew Whelan (50 free - gold) (100 fly - bronze) ( 100 free - bronze)
Final Scoreboard:
GW: 783
George Mason: 507.5
UMass: 458
Davidson: 456.5
Fordham: 408.5
St. Bonaventure: 357
La Salle: 278
Saint Louis: 188.5
Players Mentioned
