AKRON, Ohio – The Clarion men's swimming & diving team finished off the weekend at the Zippy Invitational hosted by Akron, taking fifth place overall with a score of 684 to conclude the three-day event.
Ty Rabenstein started the day off in the 1650 Free, taking home a 17th place finish, touching the wall with a final time of 16:24.27.
"Seven school records, eight NCAA "B" cuts and 107 personal best times, I am so proud of what we were able to accomplish against all of these Division I schools, '' said head coach Bree Kelley. "Our team performed and go the job done day after day and I could not be more proud."
Nick Soares excelled in the 200 Back, finishing in the top-10. Soares touched the wall in 1:48.90 for a tenth place finish.
Connor Cary picked up his best finish of the weekend breaking yet again, another school record and taking third place, Cary raced to a final finish of 1:48.04, the best finish of any Division II swimmer in the event.
Rounding out the day was the 400 Free Relay team of Mason Irwin, Austin Prokopec, Jacob Yant and Cary, who finished 12th with a final time of 3:04.46. The "B" team of Brenek Strawn, Aidan Mohren, David Bocci and Jimmy Connor finished the afternoon with a top-20 finish, touching the wall in a final time of 3:08.09.
The Golden Eagles will be back in action Saturday, December 11th, when they head to Indiana, Pa. to take on the IUP Crimson Hawks. Swimmers are set to take to the blocks at noon.
"Hard work and consistency over time day in and ady out, is what we preach to our kids and they are finally getting it all to come to fruition, '' said Kelley. "While we are going to truly embrace this moment of success, we can never truly be satisfied and have to look to continue to improve."
