Crocker Leads Men's Swimming & Diving Team to 141-112 Win over Elms

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- Bridgewater State University senior captain Michael Crocker (Hanover, Mass.) made his final collegiate meet a memorable one as he posted five wins to lead the Bears to a 141-112 victory over visiting Elms College on Thursday afternoon in Bridgewater.

Bridgewater improves to 2-4 in dual meet competition with the win, while Elms falls to 2-2.

Crocker, who is graduating in a couple of weeks, earned individual victories in the 50 freestyle (:22.44), 100 freestyle (:49.98) and 100 butterfly (:25.13) events.  He also swam a leg on the Bears' winning 200 freestyle relay squad along with junior Luis Silva (Gloucester, Mass.) and freshmen Erick DalMolin (Springfield, Mass.) and Gerard Ferdinand (Stoneham, Mass.).

Silva added an individual triumph in the 50 backstroke (:30.34), while freshman Reggie O'Connor (Lakeville, Mass.) touched the wall first in the 100 backstroke (1:04.43).  Senior Trevor Tompkins (Florence, Mass.) swept the diving portion of the meet with scores of 152.25 points on the one-meter board and 128.32 points on the three-meter.

Sophomore Mark Gehring (West Springfield, Mass.) paced visiting Elms with four wins.  Gehring placed first in the 1,650 freestyle (18:49.70), 200 freestyle (2:03.21) and 500 freestyle (5:30.16).  He also competed on the Blazers' winning 200 medley relay team (1:54.48) along with juniors Garrett Brune (Lakeville, Mass.), Nick Provost (Three Rivers, Mass.) and Aaron Coifman (Caracas, Venezuela). 

Brune and Provost each added two individual first place finishes. Brune won the 50 and 100 breaststroke events in times of 30:53 and 1:09.40 respectively, while Provost notched top times in the 100 butterfly (1:01.21) and the 200 individual medley (2:16.67).

Bridgewater is off until Tuesday, January 25th when the Bears travel to Bentley University for a 6:30 meet with the Falcons.