Results
JERSEY CITY, NJ – NJIT down by one point, 44 – 43, the Highlanders faced a must win situation in the meet's final event, the 200 yard freestyle relay. After leading the entire race, a disqualification by one of the Saint Francis swimmers negated their first place finish, pushing the Highlanders past the Terriers for a final score of 50 – 44.
The infraction lifted the Highlander squad which consisted of James Paccioretti, Matt Negron, Lawson and Ed Walker into first place.
With the score tied at 21 after the first five events, the Highlanders lost ground over the next four events but with the final two events left in the meet, NJIT found themselves on the short end of a 43 – 35 score.
NJIT had a 1– 2 finish in the 100 yard breaststroke by Michael Lawson and Pablo Botero, which brought the Highlanders to within striking distance.
Despite losing to Saint Peter's in the double dual meet, the Highlanders were able to pick up their second Division I win of the season.
“This was a great meet for us.” said NJIT Head Coach Eric Rasmussen. “It was wonderful to get the win, but more importantly, we swam fast. Ninety percent of our swimmers recorded at least one seasonal best time and three of them had personal best times. It was a very good way to end the semester.”
Freshman Andrew Helbers led the way with two personal bests in the 500 and 1000 yard freestyle races. In the 1000, Helbers' performance fell short of the school-record by just over 12 seconds but his effort sliced over 20 seconds off his personal best. Helbers swim in the 500 showed similar improvements dropping 11.5 seconds from his previous personal best.
Additionally, junior Walker recorded his best ever performance in the 100 yard freestyle and swam the anchor leg on the 200 yard freestyle relay.
On the women's side, junior Teresa Higgins had a pair of impressive swims in the distance freestyle events. In the 1000 yard freestyle, she improved her personal best by over eight seconds and in the 500 yard freestyle she recorded a seasonal best, falling just short of her personal best performance from last season.
The Highlanders return to action on January 16 when they travel to Fairfield. The meet is scheduled for 6pm.
