The New York University Men's Swimming Team competed at the third and final day of the Bruno Invitational in Providence, RI, on Sunday December 5. Brown University hosted NYU and Johns Hopkins University at the Katherine Moran Coleman Aquatics Center.
The invite's position in the middle of the season presented a great opportunity for the Violets to see their months of hard work pay off.
In the opening event of the evening, six Violets -
Thomas Pritchard (Durham, NC/Northern Durham) (15:14.72),
Connor Vincent (Irvington, NY/Irvington) (15:25.11),
Graham Chatoor (Glencoe, Trinidad/International School of Port Spain) (15:32.02),
Zachary Spain (Gwynedd Valley, PA/Germantown Academy) (15:50.91),
Griffin Henze (Harleysville, PA/Germantown Academy) (15:57.44), and
Gustavo Ott (Magnolia, TX/Magnolia) (16:06.20) - all made NCAA cuts in the 1,650 freestyle. Pritchard won the event, broke the program record and posted the fastest time in the nation this season. Finishing just behind him was Vincent, whose time is the third-fastest nationally. Chatoor's time is also the fifth-fastest in Division III this season.
The Violets continued to excel with more NCAA-qualifying times. In the 200 backstroke,
Jaeden-Hans Yburan (Livingston, NJ/Seton Hall Prep) placed third (1:48.80) and
Ethan Zheng (Lexington, MA/The Rivers School) finished in fifth (1:49.50).
Ajay Watanakun (Bangkok, Thailand/Harrow International School) was victorious in the 100 free with a time of 45.01. The last individual NCAA cuts were in the 200 breaststroke, as
Erik Truong (Lindwood, NJ/Mainland Regional),
Jacob Haines (Mount Laurel, NJ/Lenape) and
James Yan (Princeton, NJ/Montgomery) raced to respective times of 2:01.83, 2:01.19 and 2:02.99.
The men's team finished off the Bruno Invite with yet another cut in the 400 freestyle as the relay team of Watanakun, Alec Reimon (Rutherford, NJ/Bergen County Academies), Tyler Walters (Garden City, NY/Jericho), and John Piccinic (Colonia, NJ/Colonia) placed fourth (3:01.55).
"It was an amazing meet for the whole team," Vincent said. "I think everyone should be really proud with how they raced. The relays were electric and I think the team's spirit was unmatched. Overall, I'm really excited about the team we have for the remainder of the season."
The men's diving team did not compete on Sunday.
"That was one hell of a way to finish up the meet," Head Swim Coach Trevor Miele commented. "We had multiple NCAA cuts in almost every event and some outstanding performances. They outperformed my expectations and I'm glad all their hard work paid off this weekend."
The Bruno Invitational concluded with Brown in first place with 1207.5 points. Johns Hopkins was second with 1076.5 points and NYU finished third with 881 points.
The Violets' next competitions take place on Thursday and Friday, January 13-14, 2002. The NYU Diving Invitational will be at the Palladium Athletic Facility both days, while the swimmers will compete at Stevens Institute of Technology on Friday and host them on Saturday.
