The New York University men's swimming and diving closed out the 2025 slate with their final meet of the fall semester, hosting the Fordham University Rams from The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) Lions.
The Violets emerged victorious over the Rams, 194-104, and Lions, 211-89.
Divers from all three schools started the day. NYU's
Makai Harder (222.35) and
Nolan Jennings (220.40) took second and third, respectively, in the one-meter competition. Fordham's David Vargas Garcia took first with a 318.30 score.
In the one-meter action, Harder led the Violets with a second-place finish (222.35). Jennings took third for the Violets with a 220.40 score. Varges took the win for the Rams.
"I was happy with the men's dives today," said Diving Head Coach
Todd Kolean. "Makai is starting to get his dives back after some time away from the pool."
The Violets opened the swim portion of the meet with a narrow victory in the 200 medley relay, with the NYU "A" team (
Teddy McQuaid,
Sean Li,
Pierce Downs,
Greg Wehbe) finishing in 1:31.02, just under 0.03 ahead of Fordham's "A" team.
Blake Wang scored a podium spot in the 1000 freestyle for the Violets, taking third with a 9:46.55 time.
Pierce Downs led the way in the 200 freestyle (1:40.36) with
Conner Dean (1:42.75) making it a 1-2 finish for the Violets.
The home team took the top spot in the 100 backstroke as well, with McQuaid (50.23) taking first and
Jacob Lin (50.78) in third.
Li (56.93) took first place in the 100 breaststroke, with fellow Violet
Victor Derani (57.02) finishing just behind in second.
Maksym Nechydyuk earned a win in the 200 butterfly race, leading the field with a time of 1:53.56.
Jacob Lee took third with a 1:55.07 time.
In the 50 freestyle, Wehbe was just 0.04 off the lead and took third with a 21.00 finish.
Downs took first in the 100 freestyle, scoring a 45.16 finish.
The Violets swept the podium in the 200 backstroke, with McQuaid (1:53.13),
Hodge Dauler (1:53.52), and Lin (1:53.74) finishing 1-2-3.
Derani (2:04.19) scored a first-place finish in the 200 breaststroke race. Nechydyuk (2:06.23) and Bitz (2:09.25) completed the podium.
Wang secured a silver finish in the 500 freestyle (4:43.62).
Lee placed third in the 100 butterfly, clocking in at 51.23.
The meet wrapped up with two final races: the 200 individual medley (IM) and 200 freestyle relay.
NYU scored all three podium finishes in the 200 IM, as Dean (1:53.57), Nechydyuk (1:54.25) and Derani (1:57.28) went in order.
The top Violet relay team led the way in the 200 freestyle relay to close out the meet. NYU's "A" team (Downs,
Daniel Gustin, Li, Wehbe) finished in 1:22.59.
The Violet swimmers return to action on January 14 against Gettysburg College, with the full team returning for Senior Day against Johns Hopkins on January 19.
