by Cory Guinn
HAMPDEN-SYDNEY, VA. – The Barton men's swimming team started off its inaugural season in a successful fashion on Saturday afternoon, defeating host Hampden-Sydney College 144-108 and falling to Frostburg State University 135-121in the program's first ever competition.
The Bulldogs started the meet off with a win in the 400-meter medley relay as the team of Andre Richardson, Alex Krasutsky, Luis Reyes and Colin Strickland turned a time of 4:18.27 to win by more than six seconds of Frostburg State. Reyes, Robert Zamorano, Strickland and James Day formed a team in the 400-meter freestyle relay and took first place with a time of 3:48.18, defeating a team from HSC by more than a 23-second margin.
Zamorano claimed the individual win in the 800-meter freestyle, defeating his next closest competitor by more than 40 seconds, while also winning the 400-meter freestyle race with a time of 4:34.31. Richardson had the closest finish of the day, winning the 50-meter butterfly race by .03 seconds over second-place Hudson Elmore of the Tigers.
A pair of Barton swimmers finished first and second in two separate races with Day reaching the wall first on both occasions. The Essex, England native first won the 200-meter freestyle by less than a second over Zamorano and followed that with a win in the 100-meter freestyle event over Strickland with a time of 55.89
Strickland was able to earn a first place finish in the 50-meter freestyle following a swim of 25.06, defeating Hampden-Sydney's Brandon Koch by almost two seconds, while Krasutsky took home two second place finishes in the 50- and 100-meter breaststroke.
Barton will be back in the pool on Wednesday, Oct. 19 when the team hosts Ferrum College in the Bulldog's first home meet in Rocky Mount, N.C. at 6 p.m.
