WASHINGTON - Senior Ben Sealts (Ottawa, Ohio) saved his best performance for last here Saturday on Senior Day for the Gallaudet University men's swimming program. Sealts, the highly decorated Gallaudet swimmer, won the 200-yard IM with a time of two minutes and 7.27 seconds as he picked up nine team points for the Bison against Marymount (Va.) University in an Atlantic East Conference meet.
Sealts contributed 21 of Gallaudet's 67 team points but it wasn't enough for Gallaudet (1-4, 1-2 Atlantic East) against Marymount (3-5, 2-2 Atlantic East), who tallied 176 points and 13 first-place finishes.
Sealts and Rett Jala (McAllen, Texas) are Gallaudet's two four-year swimmers as the pair shined on Senior Day. Sealts finished second in the 100-yard butterfly (58.61 seconds) and 200-yard freestyle (1:54.50). Jala finished fourth in the 50-yard butterfly (34.57), 100-yard backstroke (1:19.70) and 100-yard IM (1:22.46). The duo joined sophomore Naveh Berner-Kadish (Takoma Park, Md.) and junior Nick Hohrman (Fergus Falls, Minn.) on the 200-yard medley relay to begin the meet as the Bison placed second with a time of 2:06.63.
Berner-Kadish finished third in the 100-yard IM (1:15.11) just in front of Jala and picked up another pair of third-place finishes in the 100-yard backstroke (1:17.20) and 100-yard breaststroke (1:30.91).
Hohrman placed third in the 50-yard backstroke (32.32) just under four seconds behind the first-place time of 28.48. Hohrman later finished third in the 100-yard freestyle (1:01.01).
Sophomore Peter Tran (Fountain Valley, Calif.) finished second in the 50-yard breaststroke with a time of 38.52 just over three seconds behind the first-place time of 35.42.
Sophomore Jerry Cruz (Washington, D.C.) had a strong showing in the 50-yard freestyle as he touched the wall in 29.35 seconds to place third overall.
Sophomore Andrew Makarewicz (Gaylord, Mich.) placed fourth in the 200-yard freestyle (2:35.59) followed by junior Abe Polanco (Devine, Texas) in fifth (3:16.28).
Gallaudet's 200-yard freestyle relay team of Hohrman, Makarewicz, freshman Chris Marin-Palafox (Sloatsburg, N.Y.) and Polanco finished second with a time of 2:16.40.
During intermission of the meet the Gallaudet coaching staff paid tribute to its senior class and several graduating student-athletes. Head coach Nick Pezzarossi and assistant coach Larry Curran thanked and recognized Sealts, Jala, Polanco, Berner-Kadish and Makarewicz from the men's team for their dedication and service to the program over the years.
BISON TRACKS
- Marin-Palafox placed third in the 500-yard freestyle (7:52.08) while Polanco was fourth (8:56.12)
- Cruz finished fourth in the 50-yard breaststroke (47.24) and fifth in the 50-yard butterfly (37.76)
- Makarewicz took fifth in the 50-yard freestyle (30.12) and 100-yard backstroke (1:34.76)
- Marin-Palafox and Polanco finished fifth (1:18.87) and sixth (1:33.65), respectively, in the 100-yard freestyle
- Marin-Palafox took sixth in the 50-yard freestyle (33.59)
UP NEXT
Gallaudet will travel to Radnor, Pa., next Saturday, Jan. 22, to swim against Marywood University and Cabrini University, the host of the Atlantic East Conference double-dual meet. This will be the final regular-season meet for the Bison before the conference championships.
