Pleasantville, N.Y. – The Le Moyne College men's and women's swimming and diving teams opened the season with a sweep of Pace University on Friday afternoon at the Goldstein Center. The men registered a 160-113 victory and the women were 137-127 winners.

"Our pre-season preparation really shined today," said head coach Adam Zaczkowski '04. "The grit we showed after a tough training period is going to set us up for season-long success. The work we've put in with Coach Gaal in the weight room is starting to show real rewards. I'm really proud of our team. We had a long bus trip to get to the Pace pool. We also have our much-needed fall break weekend after the meet. We stayed in the present and took care of a feisty Pace team."

On the men's side, the team of sophomore Dominic Fratto (Waterloo, N.Y./Waterloo), redshirt sophomore Ryan McMahon (Syracuse, N.Y./West Genesee), sophomore Jason Badalato (Watertown, N.Y./Carthage) and sophomore Belal Aly (Syracuse, N.Y./PSLA @ Fowler) placed first in the 200-yard medley relay to open the meet with a time of 1:41.63.

Senior Joseph Malone (Merrick, N.Y./Wellington C. Mepham/SUNY Old Westbury) captured the 1000-yard freestyle by over 30 seconds with a time of 10:32.04.

Freshman Keegan Stafford (Charlton, N.Y./Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake) opened his collegiate career by topping the field in the 200-yard freestyle by over six seconds with a time of 1:49.70.
 
Fratto added his first individual victory with a time of 25.25 seconds in the 50-yard backstroke. He completed the sweep of the backstroke events with a time of 55.07 seconds in the 100-yard backstroke to win by over 1.7 seconds.

Aly recorded his first win of the campaign by almost one second with a time of 22.46 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle. He was victorious in the 100-yard freestyle by over 2.5 seconds by touching the wall in 49.01 seconds.

Sophomore Justin Byrne (Syracuse, N.Y./West Genesee) registered 227.40 in the one-meter diving event to place second to open the meet. He later won the three-meter diving event by three points with a score of 207.45.

Senior Charles Morris (East Aurora, N.Y./East Aurora) tallied a time of 1:02.13 in the 100-yard breaststroke to win by almost 1.5 seconds.

Badalato registered a time of 57.24 to win the 100-yard butterfly by over two seconds.

The team of Stafford, redshirt sophomore Logan Bronecki (Hemlock, N.Y./Livonia), Morris and sophomore Ajay Hicks (Oneida, N.Y./Oneida) won the meet-closing 200-yard freestyle relay by almost three seconds with a time of 1:33.25.
 
On the women's side, the quartet of redshirt sophomore Grace Thomas (Clifton Park, N.Y./Shenendehowa), sophomore Ella Kaback (Delmar, N.Y./Bethlehem), freshman Brooke Sommo (Guilderland, N.Y./Guilderland) and senior Caitlyn Longway (Sauquoit, N.Y./Sauquoit Valley) won the 200-yard medley relay by almost 6.5 seconds with a time of 1:55.55.

Sophomore Hannah Kellogg (Cazenovia, N.Y./Chittenango) won the 1000-yard freestyle by almost nine seconds by touching the wall in 11:22.52.

Sophomore Brenna Horan (Bayport, N.Y. / Bayport-Blue Point/SUNY Geneseo) was victorious in the 200-yard freestyle in her Le Moyne debut by over one second with a time of 2:05.67. She later won the 200-yard IM by over four seconds by touching the wall in 2:23.56.

Senior Genevieve Kikukawa (Kalaupapa, Hawaii / University Laboratory School) claimed the 50-yard backstroke by just 0.09 seconds with a time of 29.71 seconds.

Sommo collected her first collegiate victory with a time of 28.34 seconds in the 50-yard butterfly. She picked up her second win with a time of 1:02.76 in the 100-yard butterfly to top the field by over three seconds.

Thomas topped the field in the 100-yard backstroke by 0.19 seconds with a time of 1:03.45.
 
Freshman Riley Brennen (New Hartford, N.Y./New Hartford) placed second in the first one-meter diving event with 152.86 points.

The Dolphins are back in action on Sunday, October 16 at the Hartwick Relays.
 
Additional quotes:
Diving coach Mihali Tzetzis: "Freshman Riley Brennen was good on the 1-meter springboard.  She has already made great strides. We didn't have enough prep work on the 3-meter but expect her up there for Hartwick. Justin Byrne, coming off of March's Division II National Qualifier, did not disappoint. He was only one point behind in the 1-meter and had two great dives to close out the 3-meter competition in first."
 
Graduate Assistant Coach Victoria Breslin '21: "We saw the strength training really shine through. We are sore and tired but the swimmers stepped up to the challenge to deliver us our first victory of the young season."
 
Women's Senior Captain Madison Zapisek: "There was a point in the middle of the meet where we were really tired.  Our team rallied, pumped each other up and we won the meet after the 1-2 finish in the 100 Fly. "
 
Men's Senior Captain Sean McCleary: "We looked forward to this first meet since spring training in April and May. We took control of the meet early and didn't let Pace come back."