Men's Swimming & Diving Downs Clark in Dual Meet Opener, 116-111

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University men's swimming & diving team opened the 2021-2022 dual meet schedule with a 116-111 victory over visiting Clark University on Saturday afternoon at the Moriarty Pool.

The Bears captured top honors in six events.

The 200 medley relay squad featuring senior Joshua Hernandez (Cranston, R.I.), juniors Chris Anastasiades (Wakefield, Mass.) and Luc Durand (Marblehead, Mass.), and sophomore Brennan Gravanda (Wilbraham, Mass.) opened the meet with a winning time of 1:43.33.

Duran added a victory in the 500 freestyle (5:08.71), while Gravanda was the first to touch the wall in the 100 backstroke (59.62).

Junior Emerson Kerns (Norwood, Mass.), sophomore Cooper Castellone (South Windsor, Conn.) and freshman Chase Simao (Stonington, Conn.) added event wins for the Bears. Kerns placed first in the one-meter diving competition with a score of 172.55 points, while Castellone won the 100 breaststroke (1:04.94) and Simao placed first in the 1,000 freestyle (10:49.05).

"I'm very proud of both teams today," said head coach Mike Caruso. "Both teams used a balance attack and had very good results."

"We executed our meet plan very well and we really started the dual meet season strong," Caruso added. "We are looking forward to getting back into practice this week and continuing to work on our events."

Clark freshman Atuhaire Ambala (Nairobi, Kenya), who competed for Uganda this past summer at the Tokyo Olympics, won two individual events (100 IM, 100 Fly) and swam a leg on the Cougars' winning 800 freestyle squad.

The Bears will be back in the pool next Saturday afternoon when they host Gordon College at two o'clock.