W&L Men's Swimming at Day Two of BMC Meet

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – After two days of competition, the Washington and Lee men’s swimming team finds itself in fourth place out of 13 teams with a total of 141 points at the Bluegrass Mountain Conference Championship meet at the Mecklenburg County Aquatic Club in Charlotte, N.C.

Wingate University continues to lead the standings with 279 points, followed by The University of Tampa (206), Johns Hopkins (190), W&L (141) and Limestone College (104) in the top five.

On the day, W&L claimed two top-five relay finishes, with sophomores Chris Washnock (Greer, S.C./Greenville), Ian Dexter (Mountain Brook, Ala./Mountain Brook), Brian Stirling (Skillman, N.J./Montgomery) and Barnds recording a NCAA ‘B’ cut time of 3:28.15 in the 400 medley relay while finishing in fourth place.

The team of sophomore Ian Dexter (Mountain Brook, Ala./Mountain Brook), seniors Nick Talluri (Mount Airy, N.C./Mount Airy) and Brandon Barnds (Mission Hills, Kan./Shawnee), and first-year Rick Sykes (Wellesley, Mass./Wellesley) claimed a fifth-place finish in the 200 free relay with a time of 1:24.68.

In the 500 free, junior Brandon Wilder (Suffolk, Va./Nansemond-Suffolk Academy) finished ninth (4:44.31), senior Dan Austin (Terrace Park, Ohio/Mariemont) took 10th (4:47.44) and senior Jonathan Giesen (Hoover, Ala./Paul Laurence Dunbar) touched in 11th (4:47.58).

Three Generals also swam in the 200 IM with Washnock taking 12th place (1:55.58). He was followed by sophomore Robert Grattan (Richmond, Va./Trinity Episcopal) in 13th with a time of 1:55.80 and senior Winston Stagg (Midlothian, Va./Governor’s School) in 14th with a time of 1:57.82.

W&L had two swimmers finish in the top 12 of the 50 free, as Sykes touched in ninth with a time of 21.20 and Brian Stirling finishing 12th (21.35).

W&L returns to the pool on Friday for the third day of the BMC meet.

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