RIVERDALE, N.Y. - The last time the Manhattan Men's Swim team was seen in the pool, they were cruising to their 10th victory of the season. After an almost three week hiatus, the Jaspers looked to continue their impressive campaign but where tripped up going 1-2 on the weekend with a victory over Montclair State (123-89) sandwiched around losses to Saint Peter's (152-64) Friday and King's Point (113-92) Saturday at home.
The tri-meet with Montclair State and Saint Peter's took place on Friday in Jersey City, N.J. and saw the Peacocks win six of the first seven events, including a 1-2-3 finish in the 100 yard butterfly. The Jaspers were able to use their depth to earn victories over MSU in multiple events including an impressive performance from James Kelly in the 1 Meter Dive where he registered 284.93 points and helped propel Manhattan to the victory. Robert Varieur also came through in his even with an overall victory in the 100 yard freestyle with a time of 48.51 seconds.
PJ Sweeney was also impressive with his performance in the 1000 yard free finishing at 10:19.74, helping in the win over MSU. He missed an overall top finish by .04 seconds to the Peacock's Brendan King.
On Saturday, the men struggled to find a rhythm against King's Point falling behind 13-4 after the initial event, the 400 yard medley relay. Sweeney would cruise to victory in the 1000 yard freestyle with a dominant 10:28.73 finish, almost 12 seconds ahead of second place. It would continue to be back and forth with both squads swapping individual wins until a 1-2-3 King's Point sweep in the 200 yard Individual Medley set the Jaspers back more than 20 points. Robert Varieur would become a double-winner on the day with wins in both the 50 and 100 yard free.
Sweeney would join his teammate with multiple victories, dominating in the 500 free finishing nine seconds ahead of teammate RJ Meany with at time of 5:02.60 seconds. The Jaspers would also get a win in the 200 yard freestyle relay from the team of Ryan Klages, Mike Scire, Sweeney and Varieur but it would be too little too late.
Manhattan falls to 11-5 on the season after the 1-2 weekend and conclude the 2011 portion of their season. The Jaspers will have off for finals as well as winter break before returning to action for their final meets of the year, both of which will be held at Riverdale Country School. On Fri., Jan. 27 they play host to Saint Peter's before facing NJIT for the third time this year on Sat., Jan. 28 at 1:45 p.m. It will be the final home meet for lone senior Robert Kehoe.
To follow Manhattan Athletics on Twitter, go to twitter.com/GoJaspers or visit Manhattan's Facebook fan page.
