Men’s swimming team falls to Canisius in final dual meet

January 29, 2020

The Gannon University men’s swimming and diving team didn’t emerge from its final dual meet of the season Saturday with a victory, but the Knights didn’t come away empty handed.
Two swimmers – Luke Engle and Brent Benedict – each captured two first-place finishes and David Gallion clocked three Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference times in a 153.5-120.5 loss to Division I Canisius on Senior Day at the Carneval Athletic Pavilion.
Engle captured gold in the 100-yard butterfly, finishing in 51.59 seconds to edge Canisius’ Kenyon Winkky by four-one hundredths of a second.
Engle’s second first-place finish came as part of the 400 freestyle relay crew that also included Robert Bolmanski, Justin Decheck and Benedict.
The quartet combined to finish in 3:08.22 for the victory.
Benedict’s individual top finish came in the 100 freestyle, which he won in 46.07 seconds. Canisius’ Liam O’Connell wound up second in 46.71 seconds.
Gannon had four other individual event winners – Alex Deemer, Clark Eason, Kollin Schwab and Andrew Beyer.
Deemer took first in the 1,000 freestyle with a PSAC and NCAA Division II qualifying time of 10:02.41.
Eason won the 50 freestyle in 21.27 seconds while Schwab was victorious in the 1-meter diving competition, amassing 373.25 points in 11 dives.
Beyer prevailed in the 200 backstroke, clocking a time of 1:58.61 to outlast Canisius’ Jordan Read, who finished in 2:05.37.
In addition to the first-place finishes, the Knights registered 17 PSAC qualifying times.
Gallion made the grade in all three of the events he entered.
Joey Deemer, Decheck, Bolmanski, Eason and Engel all finished with two PSAC qualifying marks.
Both of Bolmanski’s PSAC qualifying times – 1:01.11 in the 100 breast and 4:42.27 in the 500 free — also made the grade as NCAA Division II qualifying times.
The same was true for Joey Deemer (10:21.84 in the 1,000 free and 4:58.53 in the 500 free), Decheck (52.13 in the 100 back and 51.92 in the 100 fly), Eason (21.27 in the 50 free and 51.59 in the 100 fly) and Engel (21.38 in the 50 free and 51.59 in the 100 fly).
Beyer also recorded a pair of NCAA qualifying times (54.75 in the 100 back and 1:58.61 in the 200 back).
The Knights finished their dual meet season with a 5-3 record and now will turn their attention to postseason competition.
First on the agenda are the PSAC Championships, set to begin Wednesday, Feb. 19, and run through Saturday, Feb. 22, at York, Pa.
Swimmers and divers, if they make the grade, would then move on to compete in the NCAA Division II Championships, set for March 11-14 at Geneva, Ohio.