Worcester, Mass. – December 3, 2023 - The Springfield College men's and women's swimming diving team combined for a third place finish at this year's Gompei Invitational, which was hosted by WPI, this weekend. The third place finish for the Pride marked their highest finish at the Gompei Invitational in program history.

The scoring for the meet combined both the men's and women's score to crown one champion of the weekend. Springfield combined for 3611.5 points, which was good enough for third place, only behind Division I Bryant University with 8051.5 points and host WPI with 5551 points. Bentley University took fourth (3490.5) and Babson College rounded out the top five (3025.5).

FRIDAY HIGHLIGHTS

First-year Gerold Gutierrez (Milford, Conn.), sophomore Rocky Tang (Hong Kong), junior Luke Zonghetti (Tolland, Conn.) and first-year Zavier Villanueva (Wilbraham, Mass.) began the day with a 14th place finish in the 200-medley relay with a time of 1:38.75.

Tang went on to finish seventh overall in the 200-breast with a time of 2:13.15 and 22nd overall, second in the C Final, in the 200-IM with a time of 2:00.73, while Gutierrez followed in the 200-IM in 27th overall in 2:04.59.

Sophomore Dan Backlund (Duxbury, Mass.) placed third overall in the 50-free in 21.13, 13th overall, third in the B Final, in the 100-fly with a time of 51.97 and also teamed up with Zonghetti, junior Jonathan Chan (Hong Kong), Backlund and junior Jordon McMillan (Maraval, Trinidad and Tobago) for a sixth place finish in the 800-free relay in 7:11.43.

Chan finished third overall in the 100-fly with a time of 50.34 after securing the top seed in prelims (50.16) and was followed by Zonghetti in 17th place in 53.01. Junior Ryan Goolsbey (East Lyme, Conn.) also took ninth overall in the 500-free with a time of 4:50.93.

Zonghetti and sophomore Viet-Anh Nguyen (East Longmeadow, Mass.) both appeared in the B Final of the 50-free as the duo finished 12th and 19th with times of 21.50 and 22.18, respectively. McMillan appeared in the B Final of the 500-free and recorded a time of 4:51.96 for 18th overall, while first-year Colin La (Agawam, Mass.) won the C Final of the 200-breast with a time of 2:22.52.

SATURDAY HIGHLIGHTS

Backlund, Nguyen, McMillan and Zonghetti tallied a third place finish in the 200-free relay in 1:25.13 only behind Division I Bryant and NEWMAC rival Babson to open action on Saturday night.

Individually, McMillan took seventh overall in the 100-back in 54.10, while Chan placed ninth in the 200-free in 1:44.85. Behind McMillan in the 100-back was Gutierrez in 14th overall, fourth in the B Final, in 55.25, while McMillan won the B Final of the 200-free in 1:45.11 and Backlund placed eighth in the B Final of the 200-free in 1:48.21.

Tang paced Springfield in both the 400-IM as he placed 12th overall, second in the B Final, in the 400-IM in 4:25.90 and had the same placement in the 100-breast in 59.80. Behind Tang in the 400-IM was junior Brian Douglass (Wilbraham, Mass.) in 14th overall in 4:27.35, while Nguyen followed Tang in the 100-breast in 15th overall in 1:00.58.

McMillan, Tang, Chan and Backlund ended the swimming portion of the meet with a fifth place finish in the 400-medley relay in 3:30.99.

First-year diver Christian Butler (North Haven, Conn.) earned an NCAA Diving Regional qualifying score on the 3-meter board with a first place finish and a mark of 449.65.

SUNDAY HIGHLIGHTS

Chan highlighted the final night of the Gompei Invitational as he individually placed fifth in the 200-fly in a time of 1:56.70 and seventh in the 100-free in 47.31 before he teamed up with Backlund, Zonghetti and McMillan for a third place finish in the 400-free relay in 3:09.19.

Behind Chan in the 100-free was McMillan in fourth place in the B Final (14th overall) in 47.46 and Zonghetti in fifth place in the B Final (15th overall) in 47.49. Zonghetti also placed fifth in the B Final (15th overall) in the 200-fly in 2:00.38.

Gutierrez represented Springfield in the A Final of the 200-back as he clocked a time of 2:00.38 for ninth overall, while junior Jon Sherlock (West Chester, Pa.) took seventh in the B Final (17th overall) in the same event in 2:08.57.

In the 50-breast, Nguyen finished sixth overall in 27.13, while La took seventh in the B Final (17th overall in 29.35). Springfield had three finishers in the top-25 in the 1650-free highlighted by an eighth place finish by Goolsbey in a time of 16:47.09. Senior Chris Carey (Franklin, Mass.) rounded out the highlights in the swimming portion of the meet with a fourth place finish in the B Final (14th overall) in the 100-IM in 56.67.

In the diving well, Butler took second place on the 1-meter board with a score of 424.05, just 0.95 points shy of an NCAA regional qualifying mark.

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