Men’s Swim & Dive Readies for Dual-Meet with Lions

Friday, November 6

New York, NY

7 PM

Army West Point

Columbia

Men’s Swim & Dive Readies for Dual-Meet with Lions

November 05, 2015 | Men's Swimming and Diving

WEST POINT, N.Y. – The Army West Point men's swimming and diving team looks to remain unbeaten when the Black Knights travel to New York, N.Y., for a meet against Columbia on Friday, Nov. 6. The meet is set to begin at 7 p.m. from Uris Pool.

"Columbia always seems to bring out the best in us," said head coach Mickey Wender. "It is going to be a great opportunity for our men's team to go on the road to compete against a team that is a lot like us. They are talented and race hard. They're a fun team to compete against, and it will be a really good developmental experience for our guys to get off the bus and race them on their 'home turf.'

"We are going to be pushed way more than we have all year. We are going to learn more about how effective our training has been in terms of the way we are able to finish races and the front end speed that we have. I love what this team brings to the pool every day, and I am really optimistic. They have a very businesslike and professional approach. The team knows what we need to do, they execute well and make adjustments."

Last month, Army earned a 187-120 win over UMass at Crandall Pool after recording the top time in every swimming event to improve the Cadets' record to 3-0.

The meet featured a new event for both sides in the 100 IM. The Black Knights set a pool and Academy record. Austin Kong captured both records with a standard of 51.89.

"Austin has been tremendous for us," said Wender. "He is stronger and has improved a lot from last season. He is very smart and is someone who takes a cerebral approach to the sport which is fun. He is very thoughtful and thinks a lot about what he is trying to do every day."

Army came out strong in the first event of the night with first and second place finishes. The "A" team of Josh Sembrano, Colin Kanzari, Kong and Chris Szekely touched the wall first in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:31.92. Army's "B" team comprised of Evin Rude, Sam Mo, Jason Rodriguez and Brandon McCredie followed closely behind with a time of 1:34.72.

Army earned the top three spots in the 100 IM and 200 free. Kong led the way in the 100 IM over Sam Mo (51.94) and Dan Mo (53.15), while Rude (1:41.94), Devin McCall (1:42.88) and Adam Sjoholm (1:44.59) went first through third in the 200 free.

Army swept the top-four spots in the 200 fly. Jay Yang recorded a first place time of 1:51.60 as Jason Rodriguez (1:54.30), Zach Blankenbecker (1:54.50) and Sean Regan (1:55.76) followed closely behind.

"Jay is an exciting swimmer," Wender commented. "He seems to improve every day. He has a lot of energy and he loves to race. You can see it in everything he does, every day in practice he has been helping his teammates get better. He brings a fun dimension to our training every day."

Szekely touched the wall first in the 50 free with a time of 20.68 and the 100 free in 44.59. Yang won the 200 back after clocking a 1:49.60 and was followed by Sembrano who had a time of 1:50.54.

"Chris is on another level this year," Wender added. "During his training and the few chances we have seen him race, he has been ahead of where he's been before. It is interesting since we haven't done a lot of power work with him. We have been deliberately patient in developing the aerobic side of things, and he has responded really well to it. He continues to impress in terms of what he brings to practice every day, which has been vastly superior to what he was able to do from a training standpoint a year ago."

In the diving portion, Joe Frullaney and Edward Emery placed fourth and fifth on the 1-meter with 135.75 points and 131.18, respectively. Emery also competed for the Black Knights off the 3-meter at earned 163.20 points.

Friday evening's dual-meet will be the lone men-only one of the season. It will be the 82nd meeting between Army and Columbia which the Black Knights have a 57-24 advantage in. The teams first met in the Army programs' inaugural season in 1921.

"When setting up the schedule I like to set up a separate men's and women's meet to get us on the road with a challenge in preparation for later in the semester," Wender explained. "I think it's going to be a really important day and a good way to learn a lot about who we are as a team."

This will be the first match of the season for the Lions. Columbia returns after an impressive 9-2 overall dual-meet record last season and seeing three qualifiers in the 2014 NCAA Championships.

Livestats for the meet will be available for fans by clicking here. Fans will also be able to track results through the Meet Mobile App.

For up-to-date information about Army swimming and diving, please follow @ArmyWP_SwimDive on Twitter and Instagram.