Springfield, Mass. - February 4, 2024 - The Springfield College men's swimming and diving team fell to Amherst College by a final score of 135-87 on Sunday afternoon inside of Art Linkletter Natatorium.

Sophomore Dan Backlund (Duxbury, Mass.) had a strong meet for the Pride as he won the 50-free in 21.31, placed second in the 100-fly in 54.01 and led off the 200-free relay alongside classmate Viet-Anh Nguyen (East Longmeadow, Mass.), junior Jordon McMillan (Maraval, Trinidad and Tobago) and junior Luke Zonghetti (Tolland, Conn.) for first in the event in 1:25.96.

McMillan, Nguyen and Zonghetti teamed up with junior Jonathan Chan (Hong Kong) posted a runner-up finish in the 200-medley relay with a time of 1:35.98. Chan went on to finish third in the 100-IM in 53.82 and fourth in the 100-breast in 1:20.20, while McMillan posted a fourth place finish in the 200-free in 1:48.05.

First-year Gerold Gutierrez (Milford, Conn.) and first-year Zavier Villanueva (Wilbraham, Mass.) registered runner-up finishes in their respective events as Gutierrez posted a time of 4:24.44 in the 400-IM and Villanueva touched the wall in 5:21.56 in the 500-free. Gutierrez also registered a third place finish in the 100-back in 57.29.

Junior Ryan Goolsbey (East Lyme, Conn.) rounded out the swimming highlights for the Pride with a third place finish in the 100-free in 51.19.

In the diving well, first-year Christian Butler (North Haven, Conn.) was the lone men's diver of the meet as he posted a 1-meter score of 289.12 and a 3-meter score of 265.20.

Springfield will return to the pool on Saturday, February 10 for the team's final dual meet of the regular season against Babson College beginning at 12:00 pm.

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