Geneva, OH - In only its third season of competition, the Wagner College men's swimming and diving team claimed its first-ever Northeast Conference (NEC) championship on Saturday night at the Spire Institute.
This is the second swimming & diving title in Wagner history and the first since the women's team won its first title in 2014. Wagner's women's team finished in third place this year. For a full women's recap, click here.
The Seahawks dethroned Howard as the champions in what was a crucial final day of competition. Wagner finished with 884.5 total points — 51 more points than the second place Bison.
Freshman Jasu Ovaskainen was awarded NEC Outstanding Swimmer and Rookie of the Meet after earning individual victories in the 100-yard butterfly, 100-yard backstroke and 200-yard IM. He also earned an additional four victories as part of relay teams. This marks the second consecutive season that a Wagner swimmer has won the Rookie of the Meet award after sophomore Kaan Nalçaci won last year.
Entering the day with a slim 13.5 point advantage over the reigning champions, Wagner got a huge boost in the first event of the day from sophomore Ruben Van Gool.
Van Gool had dominated distance events all season and when the Seahawks needed him, he delivered. The Madrid, Spain, native clocked in at 15:51.39 to take home the gold and put Wagner ahead by 41.5 points.
Nalçaci kept the winning way going for the Green & White in the 200-yard backstroke event. Freshman Nikkolai Carrillo placed in the second to further add to the point differential in favor of the Seahawks.
The Bison gained a bit on the Seahawks after second and third place finishes in the 100-yard freestyle, but a first place finish from freshman Adrian Andres Moreno in the 200-yard breaststroke all but sealed the title.
The men wrapped up its championship run by securing their fourth relay victory of the NECs. The team of freshman Enrico Mancardo and Ovaskainen, sophomore Joel Knaapi, and Van Gool finished with a time of 3:00.73.
Overall, Wagner earned 12 titles and 24 medals throughout the event.
