EAST MEADOW, N.Y. - Competing in the final day of the ECAC Fall Invitational, the Manhattan men's squad finished in 5th place while the women placed 10th in the three-day event. It marked the end of the first tournament event of the year for the Jaspers.
The men earned another third place finish, tying the programs highest event finish in the ECAC's, in the 400 medley relay. Cullen Balcanoff, Dennis Daly, PJ Sweeney, and Robert Varieur combined to finish with a time of 3:36.84 seconds. Sweeney would narrowly miss the top-10 in the 500 yard freestyle with a time of 4:55.35, 1.17 seconds behind 10th. Varieur earned a top-10 finish in the 50 yard free, finishing ninth, with a time of 21.85 seconds. In the final event of the weekend, the team of Ryan Klages, Mickey Ruddy, Dallan Treanor, and Varieur took fifth in the 400 free relay with a time of 3:18.88 seconds. Their teammates, Sweeney, Mike Scire, Lance Neuendorf, and Chris Fusco also competed well finishing in 3:19.62 seconds.
As for the women, they saw a strong performance in each relay event. In the 400 medley Kerry Schuermann, Brianne Grant, Paige Raccioppi, and Melanie Tam took sixth with a time of 4:17.02 seconds. Grant, Raccioppi, Tam and Kim Geissler would later earn an eighth place finish in the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 3:52.44 seconds. Raccioppi also competed in the 200 Individual Medley (2:19.79) while Grant participated in the 50 free touching the wall in 25.95 seconds.
Both teams will return to the pool later this week. The women will travel to Hunter on Mon., Dec. 3 before both teams will go to Jersey City, N.J. on Dec. 7 for a tri-meet with Montclair State and Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) foe Saint Peter's.
