West Chester Men Drop Dual Meet To Lehigh

MEET RESULTS

BETHLEHEM, PA – Nikita Pisarenko (Tallinn, Estonia) picked up a win in his first swim of the season, and Carter Smith (Clarks Summit, Pa./Abington Heights) registered a pair of victories on each of the diving boards, but it was not enough for West Chester to overcome Division I host Lehigh in Jacobs Pool Friday night.
 
The Golden Rams (3-2) collected four first-place medals during the non-league tilt. However, the Mountain Hawks (1-1) prevailed 134-97.
 
West Chester continued to show growth in the distance events, taking first and second place in the 1650-yard freestyle after Thomas Powell III (West Grove, Pa./Bishop Shanahan) made a nice push at the end to pick up a few places and touch the wall second. Teammate Collin Pettit (Havertown, Pa./Haverford) won the event in a time of 16 minutes, 28.91 seconds while Powell touched in 16:46.37.
 
"The distance events keep getting better on both sides," stated WCU head coach Steve Mazurek. "That is always a good sign for us. And it might be easy to miss Nolan's (Benner) performance in the 100 free with Lehigh finishing first and second. But that's a nice time-certainly his best dual meet time."
 
Benner (Green Lane, Pa./Boyertown) placed third in the event with a time of 46.59 seconds.
 
In the 500 free, it was Powell touching the wall just ahead of Pettit as the two finished second and third, respectively. Powell logged a time of 4:48 flat while Pettit posted a 4:49.48.
 
Pisarenko won the 200 breaststroke in a time of 2:09.01 for the fourth and only other individual win for the Golden Rams.
 
West Chester heads to Bloomsburg next Friday for a dual meet against the Huskies at 5 p.m.