Fowler Leads Men's Swimming & Diving at Babson Meet

By Jim Fenton

BABSON PARK, Mass. -- Junior Aaron Fowler (Brookline, Mass.) won a pair of individual events for the Bridgewater State University men's swimming & diving team Saturday afternoon.

Fowler was first in the 50-yard freestyle and the 100-yard freestyle in the Bears' 145-85 loss to Babson College at the Morse Pool.

Fowler finished the 50 freestyle in 21.85 seconds and was first in the 100 freestyle in 49.06 seconds.

He was also part of the winning 200 freestyle relay team that included freshman Wilco Zbitnoff (Haverhill, Mass.), senior Richard Palanza (Mansfield, Mass.) and freshman James Hein (Holliston, Mass.).

That team placed first with a time of 1:28.82 for the Bears (2-4).

The other individual winner for BSU was senior Desmond Ng (Petaling Jaya, Malaysia). Ng had a time of 2:09.08 to capture top honors in the 200 breaststroke with teammate Ryan McKenzie (Charlton, Mass.) third in 2:21.29.

Junior Jirat Saengthong (Watertown, Mass.) was second in the 200 freestyle in 1:48.90 and senior Robbie Soucy (Frye Island, Maine) was second in both the 1-meter (148.00 pts) and 3-meter diving (164.85 pts.).

Zbitnoff placed second behind Fowler in the 100 freestyle in 49.77 seconds.

Third-place finishers were senior Jacob Jope (Freetown, Mass.) in the 1,000 freestyle, Hein in the 200 individual medley and junior Nathan Barnes (Billerica, Mass.) in the 200 backstroke.

The 200 individual medley relay team of Zbitnoff, McKenzie, Saengthong and Jope was second in 1:41.95.

BSU will hold Senior Day next Saturday when they face Clark and Plymouth State at 2 p.m.