Men's Swimming & Diving in First Place Following Day Two of Little East Championships

By Jim Fenton 

WELLESLEY, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University men's swimming & diving team had two individual winners at the Little East Championships on Friday night.

The Bears also placed first in a relay race at the Boston Sports Institute on the second day of the four-day meet.

BSU is in first place in the team standings with 291 points followed by Maine Maritime Academy (282), Eastern Connecticut State (264), Husson (240), Keene State (176) and Plymouth State (55).

Senior Desmond Ng (Petaling Jaya, Malaysia) broke the conference meet record while winning the 50-yard breaststroke in 26.25 seconds.

The previous mark was set last year by Nico Iannucci of Eastern Connecticut State (26.66 seconds).

Ng finished nearly a second ahead of Eastern Connecticut State's Samuel Hurlburt.

Also winning for BSU was junior Aaron Fowler (Brookline, Mass.).

Fowler was first in the 100 butterfly with a time of 50.75 seconds. Eric Quiterio of Eastern Connecticut State was second in 51.49 seconds.

The BSU 400 medley relay team featuring freshman Wilco Zbitnoff (Haverhill, Mass.), Ng, Fowler and junior Jirat Saengthong (Watertown, Mass.) won its race in 3:27.88.

The Bears' 200 freestyle relay team set a school record while finishing second in 1:25.73.

The group included Fowler, senior Jacob Jope (East Freetown, Mass.), Zbitnoff and freshman James Hein (Hollison, Mass.).

The previous mark of 1:25.88 was set in 2024 by Fowler, Saengthong, Brennan Gravanda and Joseph Pervier.

Zbitnoff placed third in the 200 backstroke in 2:01.63 while teammates Nathan Barnes (Jr., Billerica, Mass.) was fifth in 2:03.96 and Brendan Goff (Sr., Plainville, Mass.) placed seventh in 2:15.45.

In the 200 individual medley, Hein was third in 1:59.45 with junior Drew Lawrence (Winchendon, Mass.) fourth in 2:03.96.

Senior Ryan McKenzie (Charlton, Mass.) finished fourth in the 50 breaststroke in 27.65 while freshman Kaua De Assis (Vineyard Haven, Mass.) placed fifth in the 100 butterfly in 54.52.

Jope took sixth place in the 50 freestyle in 22.32.

The top three placewinners in each individual event as well as the relays garner All-Little East honors.

The Little East Championships resume Saturday with preliminary races at 10 a.m. and the finals will start at 6:30 p.m.