Men’s Swimming & Diving Places First at BSU Invitational

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. – The Bridgewater State University men's swimming & diving team hosted the BSU Invitational on Saturday at the Moriarty Pool.

The Bears placed first out of three teams at the 19-event meet with 868 points as they outdistanced Plymouth State University (235 pts.) and Gordon College (148 pts.).

Bridgewater State recorded the top time in all 19 events.

Sophomore Brennan Gravanda (Wilbraham, Mass.), juniors Chris Anastasiades (Wakefield, Mass.) and Luc Durand (Marblehead, Mass.), and senior Joshua Hernandez (Cranston, R.I.) won the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:40.41 to open the meet. Gravanda, Durand and juniors Elijah Mathisen (Paso Robles, Calif.) and Eric Silva (Dighton, Mass.) posted the top time of 1:34.07 in the 200 freestyle relay to close things out.

Anastasiades, Durand and Hernandez also won three individual events apiece, while Gravanda also picked up an individual event victory.

Anastasiades captured top honors in the 50 breaststroke (27.62), 100 butterfly (53.91) and 100 individual medley (54.43). His time in the 50 breaststroke marked a career-best.

Durand was the first to touch the wall in the 400 individual medley (4:35.08), 200 butterfly (2:02.70) and 500 freestyle (5:03.24). Durand recorded career-best times in the 400 IM and 500 free, while his time in the 200 fly marked a collegiate best.

Hernandez posted career-best times in the 50 butterfly (24.18), 50 freestyle (22.09) and 100 freestyle (48.95) to win all three events.

Gravanda registered a collegiate-best time of 2:09.17 to win the 200 backstroke.

Junior Ben Wilkinson (Reading, England) placed first in both the 200 individual medley (2:08.27) and the 200 freestyle (1:52.69) as he recorded career-best times in both events.

Sophomore Joseph Pervier (Baldwinville, Mass.) also picked up a pair of individual events wins for the Bears. Pervier grabbed top honors and posted career-best times in the 50 backstroke (26.52) and 100 backstroke (57.65).

Sophomores Connor Young (Chelmsford, Mass.) and Cooper Castellone (South Windsor, Conn.), and freshman Chase Simao (Stonington, Conn.) rounded out the Bears' individual event winners. Young posted a winning time of 18:22.78 in his 1,650 freestyle debut, while Castellone placed first in the 100 breaststroke (1:07.02) and Simao recorded a career-best time of 2:18.92 in the 200 breaststroke.

The BSU men's swimming and diving team is off until Saturday, January 8th when the Bears host Trinity College at one o'clock.