Bronx, NY — The Wagner College Swimming & Diving teams began its 2023 season with a tri-meet at Fordham on Wednesday night.

Along with Wagner and Fordham, St. Francis Brooklyn also competed at the event.

The men's program finished in third place and the women's program finished in second place.

On the women's side of the pool, the Seahawks won its first matchup against St. Francis by 99 points, but fell against Fordham by a score of 186-100.

For the women, freshman Presley Staretz and senior Olivia Bishop occupied the top three of the 200-yard freestyle with first and third place finishes, respectively. Staretz narrowly edged out Fordham's Ainhoa Martin by 0.26 seconds.

Bishop also placed second in the 100-yard freestyle. Staretz placed second in the 100-yard butterfly.

The women continued to occupy the winner's podium in the 100-yard backstroke as freshman Aura Vilarrasa and sophomore Shamiya Guirre placed second and third.

Sophomore Bree Anderson placed second in the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 10:46.80 while freshman Lia Vendel finished second in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:07.46.  

Bishop and Vilarrasa also finished second and third, respectively, in the 100-yard freestyle.

For the men, freshman Ruben Van Gool came out on top in the 1000-yard freestyle by 17 seconds with a time of 9:51.26. Van Gool also placed first in the 500-yard freestyle by under a second. 

Fellow freshman Ranger Gavino placed third in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 59.82.

Gavino then backed up his third-place finish with a first-place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke. The freshman staved off three Rams to come out on top with a time of 2:08.23.

Both the men's and women's program had second place finishers in the 200-yard butterfly. On the men's side, sophomore Matt Dingess came in second place by 1.14 seconds, while senior Raquel Rubalcava Reyes missed first by 2.49 seconds.

In the final events for both programs, the 200-yard freestyle relay, the women captured first place in both the A and B relays. The men came in second place in both relays. 

The Seahawks will return to action on Friday, February 5 when they host LIU at the Spiro Sports Center.