WORCESTER -- After a week of training in Puerto Rico, the WPI men's swimming and diving team returned to competition on Tuesday afternoon, squaring off in a double-duel against Division II programs Adelphi and Bentley. WPI entered the meet with a 4-5 record and earned a split decision, taking out Bentley 162-132 but falling short against Adelphi 122-176.
 
The Engineers put up a strong showing in both the pool and on the diving boards. The duo of senior Val Corrente (East Setauket, NY) and first-year Tom Fitzgerald (East Longmeadow, MA) went 2-3 on both boards. The senior got the better of their fellow diver scoring 236.78 on the 1m, to Fitzgerald's 212.10. The 3m saw a similar story as Corrente scored 249.75 points to Fitzgerald's 233.70. 
 
Junior Chris Smith (Northbridge, MA) claimed victory in two of his three individual events. After finishing runner-up in the 200 medley relay, combining with first-year Tyson Elliott (Portland, OR), and sophomores Dean Doubek (Arnold, MD) and Nolan Schlessman (Sudbury, MA), Smith took to the water for the 100 backstroke, where he earned his second second-place finish as he hit the wall in 53.05.
 
Smith flipped the script in the 200 beating out Adelphi's Ryan Kakimseit 1:55.32 to 1:58.62, reversing the order of finish in the 100 back. In his last individual performance of the meet, Smith cruised to victory in the 200 IM, claiming the win in 1:57.75, the only swimmer to break two minutes.
 
Smith's fellow relay members put forth strong performances as well. Schlessman and fellow sophomore Sean Tesoro (Reading, MA) went 2-5 in the 200 free, with Schlessman recording a mark of 1:45.53. In the 100, it was Tesoro who got the better of his fellow sophomores as his 47.54 was good enough for second place. Schlessman and Doubek were not far behind as their 47.76 and 48.64 were strong enough for third and sixth places respectively. 
 
Doubek also had a strong showing in the 50 free, claiming second place with a time of 21.67, one spot ahead of Tesoro (21.77) and three spots ahead of grad student Jack Brazer (Peterborough, NH), who hit the wall in 22.24. 
 
The men's success was not limited to just the sprint frees and backstrokes. Seniors Fraser Milligan (Middlebury, VT) and Aidan Greenfield (Northport, NY) earned a pair of top three finishes. Milligan set a new personal best of 10:20.53 in the 1000 taking third place while Greenfield nearly held off the competition in the 500 free, claiming second in a time of 4:51.90, just .06 back of first. 
 
The Engineers are back in action this Saturday, taking on the Colby in Waterville, Maine. 
 
Full Results
 
Team Results