Men's Swimming | 10/30/2026 11:48:00 PM

ERIE, Pa. — The Bloomsburg men's swimming team used a balanced effort across the freestyle and individual medley events to earn a 133-89 victory over Penn State Behrend on Friday evening, collecting eight individual victories and closing the meet with a win in the 200-yard freestyle relay.

Senior Ian Hamilton and Jack Drake highlighted the Huskies' performances with individual victories, while several underclassmen contributed strong finishes as Bloomsburg earned its second dual-meet victory of the season.

Hamilton led the Huskies in the sprint events, capturing the 50-yard freestyle in 21.68 seconds before returning to win the 100-yard butterfly in 53.42. Freshman Malachi Moyer finished just behind Hamilton in the butterfly, taking second in 53.51, while Jason Kutufaris placed fourth in 55.23.

Hamilton's winning time in the 50 freestyle surpassed the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference championship qualifying standard of 22.45 seconds referenced earlier this season. His 100 butterfly performance also fell inside the conference qualifying mark of 53.51.

Drake continued his strong start to the season with a victory in the 200-yard individual medley, touching first in 1:56.77. The senior finished more than two seconds ahead of Penn State Behrend's Adrian Lavorini (1:59.34), while teammate Ethan Coffman placed third in 2:02.00.

Drake's performance followed his standout showing against West Chester on Oct. 16, when he captured the 100-yard freestyle in 45.36 seconds, one of the Huskies' top performances of the early season. His 200 IM time Friday also improved upon the 1:57.09 recorded by teammate Brayden Kemezis at West Chester, giving Bloomsburg another strong early-season mark in the event.

The Huskies controlled the 200-yard freestyle, sweeping the top three positions in one of the closest finishes of the evening. Freshman Cole Bolesta claimed the victory in 1:49.07, edging fellow freshman Kutufaris by just two-hundredths of a second. Kutufaris finished in 1:49.09, while sophomore Daryn Ginter touched third in 1:49.19, placing all three Bloomsburg swimmers within 0.12 seconds of one another.

Junior Brayden Kemezis delivered a dominant performance in the 1,000-yard freestyle, winning the event in 10:02.67. Kemezis finished more than 26 seconds ahead of teammate Max McCloskey, who placed second in 10:29.04, narrowly holding off Penn State Behrend's Nathaniel McWilliams (10:29.75).

Kemezis' winning time was well inside the previous season's PSAC championship qualifying standard of 10:29.32, adding to an impressive early-season distance résumé that included a 4:53.90 in the 500 freestyle at West Chester.

Bloomsburg continued its success in the 100-yard freestyle as Coffman captured first place in 47.73 seconds. Junior Adler Zawodny finished second in 48.69, followed by senior Tyler Tinsley in third at 48.89, giving the Huskies another sweep of the top three positions. All three performances surpassed the 48.94 conference qualifying standard published for the previous championship season.

Senior Connor McClurkin added a victory in the 100-yard breaststroke, finishing in 1:00.73 to hold off Penn State Behrend's Lavorini (1:01.39). Bolesta followed in fourth with a time of 1:02.77, while freshman John David Humphreys placed fifth in 1:03.26.

The Huskies also received a strong performance from Drake in the 100-yard backstroke, where he finished second in 53.03. Freshman Dante Pineiro followed in fourth at 54.43, while sophomore Tommy Houck placed fifth in 55.10.

McCloskey led Bloomsburg in the 500-yard freestyle, finishing second in 5:07.99, while Ginter placed fourth in 5:11.08.

In relay competition, the Huskies opened the evening with a second-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay as Humphreys, McClurkin, Nick Lennon and Coffman combined for a time of 1:37.22. Bloomsburg's second quartet of Pineiro, Moyer, Zawodny and Houck followed in third at 1:38.63.

Bloomsburg capped the meet with a victory in the 200-yard freestyle relay as Zawodny, Hamilton, Tinsley and Drake combined for a winning time of 1:26.37, finishing 1.32 seconds ahead of Penn State Behrend's top relay. The Huskies' second relay team of Houck, Colin Nash, Kemezis and Kutufaris finished third in 1:28.69.

Friday's performance continued Bloomsburg's early-season success following a season-opening victory over Shippensburg and a competitive outing against perennial PSAC contender West Chester. The Huskies demonstrated depth throughout the lineup, particularly in the sprint freestyle events, where multiple swimmers have already achieved conference qualifying performances this fall.

Bloomsburg returns to the pool Saturday for a road meet against Edinboro at 10:00 am.\\