St. Mary's Men's Swimming Claims Share of CAC Regular-Season Title

Salisbury, Md. – With their 126-79 victory at Salisbury University Saturday afternoon, the St. Mary's College of Maryland men's swim team finished in a three-way tie for first in the Capital Athletic Conference standings and a portion of the CAC regular-season title with a 5-1 league record.

The Seahawks shared league-leading honors with the University of Mary Washington and York College of Pennsylvania while St. Mary's wrapped up the 2011-12 regular-season with a school-record 12 wins for a 12-3 overall record.

Juniors Billy DeBoissiere (Columbia, Md./Atholton) and Cameron Hedquist (Gaithersburg, Md./Gaithersburg), sophomore Thor Petersen (Germantown, Md./Northwest) and first-year Dylan Cope (Scottsdale, Ariz./Chaparral) each picked up a pair of individual wins in the Seahawks' second consecutive win over Salisbury (4-6, 3-3 CAC).

St. Mary's started the meet with a first-place finish in the 400 medley relay in 4:08.78 behind the efforts of Cope, DeBoissiere, first-year Bobby Witkop (Chevy Chase, Md./Bethesda-Chevy Chase) and Hedquist.

Petersen led a sweep of the 800 freestyle event as he touched the wall first in 8:59.14 followed by first-year Jackson Holden (Valley Lee, Md./Great Mills) in second in 9:34.11 and junior captain Chris Coghill (Jefferson, Md./Brunswick) in third in 9:47.46.

Hedquist captured the 200 freestyle in 2:00.50 while senior Joe Kelly (Ellicott City, Md./Mt. Hebron) came in third in 2:08.70.  Witkop was the team's top finisher in the 50 freestyle as he finished fourth in 27.08.

Cope notched a first-place finish in the 200 individual medley in 2:23.23 followed by senior Gabe Grace (Baltimore, Md./Baltimore Polytechnic) in second in 2:23.45.  Petersen's second win came in the 200 butterfly as he touched the wall first in 2:19.74 while Witkop was second in the same event in 2:24.27.

Hedquist tallied a win in the 100 freestyle in 55.35 while Grace took third in 58.06.  Cope picked up a second individual win in the 200 backstroke in 2:19.42 while sophomore Nathan Brocenos (Laurel, Md./Reservoir) was second in 2:33.46.

DeBoissiere scored his first individual win of the meet in the 400 freestyle, claiming the event in 4:17.98, while Holden came in second in 4:37.67.  DeBoissiere followed that up with a first-place finish in the 200 breaststroke in 2:32.00 while Petersen was second in 2:33.45.

St. Mary's will now turn its focus to the 2012 Capital Athletic Conference Swimming Championships on February 17-19 right here in the Michael P. O'Brien ARC Aquatics Center.