PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y. - The Saint Michael's College men's swimming & diving team opened its 50th season with a 165-126 victory against Northeast-10 Conference foe Pace University on Saturday at the Goldstein Health, Fitness & Recreation Center. The women lost a 165-111 decision, as the Purple Knight squads faced the Setters for only the second time, last meeting on Nov. 7, 2009, in a double dual meet at Assumption University.
 
MEN'S MEET
NOTES

• Saint Michael's (1-0), Pace (0-1)
• The Purple Knights improved to 2-0 all-time against the Setters.
• The Purple and Gold were edged for fifth place at last year's NE10 Championship by Pace, 248-231.

SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• Junior Thomas Kane (Sparta, N.J./Pope John XXIII Regional), 4 wins
• Sophomore Rafael Kowal (Plattsburgh, N.Y./Plattsburgh/Alfred State), 4 wins (SMC debut)
• Sophomore Connor Quirbach (Lowell, Mass./Chelmsford), 4 wins
• Junior Will Englehardt (Sparta, N.J./Sparta), 3 wins
• First-year Hunter Cook (Garden City, N.Y./Chaminade), 1 win (1st career)
• First-year Liam Jordan (Mendon, Mass./Wellesley), 1 win (1st career)

THE ACTION

• Englehardt, Kane, Kowal and Quirbach combined to open the season with a victory in the 200-yard medley relay (1:40.80). Kowal captured the 100- (54.58) and 200-yard (2:01.53) backstrokes and 200-yard individual medley (2:03.34), Kane took the 50-yard freestyle (22.52) and 100-yard butterfly (55.52), and Quirbach won the 200 (1:51.47) and 500 (5:13.36) free races. Kane and Quirbach sided with Cook and Englehardt to top the 200 free relay (1:32.68) field.
• Englehardt added a third victory in the 100 free (50.70), while sophomore Ryan McCaffrey (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/George Washington) was third, only 0.29 seconds outside of second. Jordan earned a win in the 1,000 free (10:36.33), followed by first-year Cal Baird (Saratoga Springs, N.Y./Saratoga Springs) as runner-up. Jordan added a runner-up showing in the 200 IM, with Cook third. Baird was third in the 500 free and Englehardt took third in the 200 free.
• Cook was second in the 50 free, edging the third-place finisher by 0.09 seconds, while senior Aaron Bouchard (Plattsburgh, N.Y./Seton Catholic Central) came within 0.18 ticks of the top three. First-year JJ Kane (Sparta, N.J./Pope John XXIII Regional) finished third in the 100 fly, 0.26 seconds outside second place, while sophomore Ben Insley (Plattsburgh, N.Y./Plattsburgh) was 0.10 seconds shy of third.
• First-year Emanuel Cuarta (Davie, Fla./Western) was second in the 200-yard breaststroke and third in the 100 breast, coming within 0.18 seconds of the runner-up in the latter. Jordan was third in the 200 breast, and senior Brendan Hopping (Ipswich, Mass./Ipswich) claimed third in the 200 back. Sophomore Sebastian Revesz (Bedford, Mass./Bedford) was third in both the one- and three-meter diving events. Bouchard, JJ Kane, McCaffrey and first-year Hunter Daily (Amherst, N.H./Souhegan) were third in the 200 free relay.

WOMEN'S MEET
NOTES

• Saint Michael's (0-1), Pace (1-0)

SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• Junior Jessie Hart (Canton, Mass./Canton), 2 wins
• First-year Madeline Waldt (Abingdon, Md./The Catholic High School of Baltimore), 2 wins (1st career)
• Junior Margaret Wilk (Hardyston, N.J./Pope John XXIII Regional), 1 win
• First-year Hannah Steen (Portsmouth, R.I./Portsmouth), 1 win (1st career)
• First-year Ayden Walsh (Tallahassee, Fla./Creekside), 1 win (1st career)

THE ACTION

• Hart, Steen, Walsh and Wilk combined to win the 200 medley relay (1:58.12), while Hart won the 100 breast (1:12.58) by 0.22 seconds. Waldt was a double winner in her college debut, taking the 500 (5:37.18) and 1,000 (11:33.34) free races.
• Walsh was runner-up in the 100 fly and 200 free, trailing the winner in the former by 0.20 seconds. Hart was second in the 200 IM, while Walsh, Wilk, and seniors Caroline Gust (North Andover, Mass./North Andover) and Emily McLane (Morrisonville, N.Y./Peru) took second in the 200 free relay. Gust was also second in the 200 fly and third in the 100 fly, and Wilk was third in the 50 free, with Steen 0.11 seconds behind. Steen claimed third in the 100 free.
• Senior Rachel McAdams (Cromwell, Conn./Cromwell) placed second in the 1,000 free, sophomore Riley Beaudoin (Groton, Mass./Groton-Dunstable Regional) finished second in the 500 free, and classmate Ashley Silveira (Seekonk, Mass./Seekonk) took second in the 1M diving, followed by senior Rosemary Marr (Bedford, N.H./Bedford) in third.
• McLane was third in the 100 and 200 breast events, while first-year Rachel Shenkman (Simsbury, Conn./Simsbury) missed the top three in the former by 0.32 seconds. Sophomores Arianna Petta (Brookfield, Conn./Immaculate) and Livy Waranis (Narragansett, R.I./Narragansett) were third in the 200 fly and 200 back, respectively, while the Purple Knights nearly had a second 200 free relay quartet among the top three, as Hart, McAdams, Shenkman and Waldt were 0.24 seconds short of third.

NEXT SAINT MICHAEL'S MEET

• Next Saturday vs. Bridgewater State University, 1 p.m.