Wilkes Men's Swimming: MAC Championships Day 3
York, PA – The Wilkes University men's swimming team made the podium twice during day three of the 2019 Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Championships at the Graham Aquatic Center on Saturday.
Results
The day started with preliminary rounds in the morning and Justin Burda (Allentown, PA/Allentown Central Catholic) qualified for the A final as he finished in third in the 100 Fly with a time of 52.66 to break his own program record of 53.50.
In the 200 Freestyle prelims Jared Byrne (Pequea, PA/Penn Manor) and Joseph Antolick (Ringtown, PA/North Schuylkill) both qualified for the B final. Byrne qualified in 10th with a time of 1:46.20 to reset his previous team record of 1.46.24. Antolick touched the wall in 1:48.06 to qualify in 14th.
Two more Colonels qualified for the B final in the 100 Breaststroke in Trey Harloff (Apex, NC/Apex Friendship) and Anthony Stampone (Grasnonville, MD/Kent Island). Harloff finished in 1:01.66, good for 11th while Stampone placed 16th with a time of 1:03.37.
The 100 Backstroke prelims would see two more Wilkes swimmers qualify for B finals as Timothy Sechler-Stone (Allentown, PA/Salisbury) (56.16) and Jacob Wessner (Auburn, PA/Blue Mountain) (57.38) qualified in 13th and 15th respectively.
In the evening finals sessions, Burda earned a podium spot with a fifth place finish in the 100 Fly while also besting the record he reset in the morning by touching the wall in 52.35.
In the 200 Free B final Byrne dropped one spot back to 11th (1:46.36) while earning his team seven points. Antolick repeated his qualifying place of 14th (1:47.48) to earn three more points for the Colonels.
Harloff improved his finish to 10th in the 100 Breaststroke B final with a time of 1:01.42 to earn the navy and gold seven points. Stampone repeated his qualifying place of 16th (1:04.63) to grab another point toward Wilkes' team score.
Sechler-Stone also dropped back one place in the 100 Backstroke B final to 14th (57.21) to garner three points for the Colonels while Wessner had another 15th place finish (57.52) to add two more points.
The Colonels finished the evening by breaking another program record as the team of Sechler-Stone, Harloff, Burda and Antolick combined for a time of 3.39.89 in the 400 Medley Relay to break the earlier season mark of 3:41.90 while registering a podium finish of sixth place and finishing with 26 points for the navy and gold.
Wilkes currently sits in seventh place out of 12 teams after three days of competition. The Colonels will get back in the water tomorrow, Sunday, February 17th, at 10:00 a.m. for the final day of the championships with preliminary rounds before finals continue at 6:00 p.m.
