NEWARK, N.J. - The Manhattan men's swimming and diving team earned a split in a meet with Howard and NJIT on Saturday afternoon, as the Jaspers defeated the Bison 170-33 and fell to the Highlanders 130.5-74.5.
The Manhattan women's side defeated Howard in a dual meet by a 135-67 final, providing head coach Walter Olsewski with his 200th career coaching win.
Men
Following the competition, the coaching staff named senior Mike Mackay, sophomore Rich Llewellyn and freshman Tyler McCloskey Manhattan Performers of the Meet.
Mackay swam the second leg of the Jaspers 200 medley relay team that finished in first place. His time of 26.81 in the breaststroke was the fastest of any other swimmer in that leg of the race by over one full second. In the 100 breaststroke, Mackay also raced to a top finish, clocking a 1:00.52 to defeat his nearest opponent by over three seconds.
The senior also earned a second place finish in the 200 individual medley, swimming to a time of 2:04.34 in the event, narrowly touching out his teammate McCloskey, who placed third.
Llewellyn raced to a third place finish in the 200 freestyle, but had the best time of any Manhattan competitor. The sophomore swam to a 1:50.78 in the race. Llewellyn also helped the Jaspers to a second place finish in the 200 freestyle relay with an opening leg time of 23.36.
Women
Sophomore Patricia Colton and freshmen Alexandra Hutzler and Audrey Corcoran were named Manhattan Performers of the Meet on the women's side.
Both Hutzler and Colton swam in the opening event of the night, the 200 medley relay, where they helped their team to a first place finish. Hutzler's time of 32.37 in the second leg was better than any other swimmer's time in the breaststroke. Colton's 26.27 anchored Manhattan to victory.
Individually, Colton earned the top time in the 50 freestyle with a time of 25.97.
Hutzler took home first place in both the 200 individual medley and 100 breaststroke events. In the 200 IM, the freshman clocked a 2:19.38 to earn first place by over five seconds. She also swam to a 1:11.38 in the 100 breaststroke where her margin of victory was 4.18 seconds.
Corcoran swam very well in the 500 freestyle, touching in at 5:40.21, over 11 seconds faster than her closest opponent.
After the competition, the coaches and teams gave head coach Olsewski a standing ovation to congratulate him on reaching his milestone 200th victory. "Both the men's and women's teams swam very well today and I was truly humbled by the reception I was given after the meet," said Olsewski.
The women's team will next compete on Tuesday, February 3, when the Jaspers travel to Brooklyn Heights for a 6 p.m. meet with St. Francis Brooklyn. The men's side returns to action at the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championships, which are scheduled to begin on Wednesday, February 11, at the Burt Flickinger Center in Buffalo, N.Y. Events on Day 1 of the competition will start at 10 a.m.
