HAMPTON, Va. – Bolstered by the most total points ever at an Atlantic 10 Championship with 883.5, the George Washington Men’s Swimming and Diving team won its fifth consecutive straight championship on Saturday evening.
The Revolutionaries also won a trio of individual awards. For the second year in a row, Connor Rodgers was named the Most Outstanding Performer. Shae Stratton was selected as the Rookie of the Year and in his first year as the Head Coach of the George Washington, Chico Rego was chosen as the Coach of the Year.
For the second-straight year, Massachusetts’ Andrew Bell and his coach Missy Bernosky were named the Most Outstanding Diving Performer and the Diving Coach of the Year.
George Mason initially led the competition, up on George Washington 74-72 after day one. That lead was quickly erased on day two, leading the competition by over 170 points after the second night. The Revolutionaries had 584 points after day three before finishing with a record 883.5.
St. Bonaventure (517.5) followed at second while George Mason (509) and Davidson (4446) slid in at third and fourth, respectively. La Salle locked down the No. 5 overall spot behind 358 points while Massachusetts (332), Fordham (250) and Saint Louis (209) rounded out the standings.
The Revolutionaries accounted for five of the nine new league records on the men's side, with three broken by the MOP Connor Rodgers (200 IM, 400 IM, 200-fly). Ben Sosnowski broke the 200-breaststroke record in the preliminaries while as a team George Washington also broke the record in the 400-freestyle relay with a 2:53.10 mark.
Two of the four non-GW records were broken by La Salle’s Felix Jedbratt, who set a record time in the 50-free and 100-fly. The Diver of the Year Andrew Bell broke the meet record in the 3-meter with a 428.15 score. George Mason broke the record in the 800-yard freestyle relay.
DAY FOUR HIGHLIGHTS
- In the morning preliminaries, there was one top-five finishes in Atlantic 10 history:
- In the 100-yard freestyle, La Salle's Felix Jedbratt, who would go onto win a silver medal later in the day had the fifth fastest time in conference lore with a 43.30 mark.
- The final evening of competition started out with the 1,650 freestyle, where Davidson’s Dylan Felt won his third-consecutive gold medal in the event with a 15:08.31 mark, the second-fastest in league history, only trailing his own time the year prior. The George Washington duo of Daniel Choi and Phil Moldovanu finished in second and third respectively.
- Next up was the 200-yard backstroke where George Washington’s Shae Stratton took gold with a 1:42.96 mark. George Mason’s Ian Rodgers won silver at 1:44.55 while Davidson’s Jeremy Kemp won bronze at 1:45.72
- In the 100-yard freestyle George Washington’s Elliott Irwin won the gold with the second-fastest time in Atlantic 10 history at 42.73. Jedbratt took silver with a 43.16 time, the fourth-fastest time in league history.
- George Washington’s Ben Sosnowski earned gold in the 200-breaststroke with the second-fastest time in Atlantic 10 history, a 1:56.23 mark. Andrea Savoca of La Salle and Aidan Kreiley of St. Bonventure finished second and third.
- Connor Rodgers of George Washington won gold and broke his third record of the championship in the 200-yard butterfly. Rodgers won with a time of 1:43.40. Alexander Behr of St. Bonaventure earned second place in 1:43.80 and Justin Dostal of GW finished third in 1:44.72.
- Andrew Bell of Massachusetts collected the 3-meter diving title. His score of 428.15 set a new A-10 meet record. Michael Wood of GW placed second with 352.85 points and Ben Giera of St. Bonaventure was third with 350.00 points.
- GW captured the 400-yard freestyle in a A-10 conference record time of 2:53.10. The Revolutionaries were led by Elliott Irwin, Ganesh Sivaramakrishnanesh, Daniel Nagy and AJ Wood. The Patriots were second in 2:55.11, behind Tate Anderson, Ian Rodgers, Kyle Johnson and Zane Roberts. La Salle placed third led by Carter Perkins, Felix Jedbratt, Noah Frederiksson and Andrea Savoca in 2:55.92.