WORCESTER -- The opening day of the 12th Annual Gompei Invitational saw WPI surge to the top of the team standings behind a win from junior Dean Doubek (Arnold, MD) and 15 top-five finishes across both sessions at the Sports and Recreation Center.
 
The Engineers lead the combined standings with 2,483 points, followed by Bentley (1,432), Sacred Heart (1,251), Saint Peter's (1,093.5), Springfield (847.5), Brandeis (812), Central Connecticut (801), Merrimack (683) and Clark (387).
 
Opening the event with the Mixed 200 Yard Medley Relay, WPI earned two top-five finishes, with the A relay of senior Christopher Smith (Northbridge, MA), freshman Kyle Sundberg (East Northport, NY), sophomore Sarah Kang (Richmond, VA) and freshman Mallory LaPointe (Saint Johns, FL) placing third in 1:42.23. The B relay of sophomore Angad Ahluwalia (Attleboro, MA), freshman Luke Vipond (Mahtomedi, MN), senior Rachel Tsang (Acton, MA) and junior Katrina Waite (Falmouth, ME) followed, taking fifth in 1:44.16.
 
The morning session also featured the Synchronized Diving event, where WPI nabbed a runner-up finish. Sophomore Tom Fitzgerald (East Longmeadow, MA) and freshman Aaron Lakin (Hamden, CT) combined for second place, giving the Engineers a solid team points boost.
 
In the evening session, the Women's 200 Medley Relay saw WPI's top finish come from the A relay of sophomore Maria Korneva (Boylston, MA), freshman Audrey Cook (Wakefield, MA), Kang and LaPointe, which placed fifth in 1:48.88.

The Men's 200 Medley Relay recorded a second-place finish in 1:33.24, delivered by the A relay of Ahluwalia, Sundberg, junior Dean Doubek (Arnold, MD) and junior Nolan Schlessman (Sudbury, MA). WPI also secured a top-five finish from its B squad, as the quartet of Smith, Vipond, junior Lucas Pralle (Wayland, MA) and sophomore Angelo Reade (Newburgh, NY) combined for a 1:35.18 performance to take fourth overall.
 
WPI placed one swimmer inside the top 10 of the Women's 200 IM, with LaPointe finishing tenth in 2:14.03. In the Men's 200 IM, Smith finished third in 1:55.94 to lead a strong trio of Engineers. Freshman Deion Chung (Honolulu, HI) followed in sixth (1:56.95) and sophomore Tyson Elliott (Portland, OR) was seventh (1:57.38).
 
In the Men's 50 Free, Doubek won the event in 21.03, nearly four tenths ahead of the runner-up finisher. Ahluwalia finished fourth (21.44), while Schlessman and Reade tied for seventh (21.61).

Sophomore Kate Creusere (Las Cruces, NM) earned WPI's top result in the Women's 500 Free with a ninth-place finish in 5:18.70. In the Men's 500 Free, freshman Lucas Brown (Viera, FL) placed fourth (4:43.74), Chung ninth (4:52.43) and senior Nikita Zuev (Wallingford, CT) tenth (4:56.67).
 
In the Women's 200 Breast, freshman Jasmine Lam (Dracut, MA) placed ninth (2:28.28) and Cook tenth (2:28.65). In the Men's 200 Breast, WPI placed five swimmers in the top 10: Vipond was third (2:06.88), Elliott fourth (2:07.23), sophomore Mohammad Eissa (Cairo, Egypt) fifth (2:07.62), Sundberg sixth (2:08.40) and junior Brian Hall (Westford, MA) ninth (2:09.51).

Kang finished third in the Women's 100 Fly with a time of 57.25, while in the Men's 100 Fly, Doubek finished second in 50.50, to continue his fantastic meet. Also on the men's side, Smith was third (51.54) and Pralle, sixth (52.20).
 
WPI's highest placement in the Women's 800 Free Relay came from the A group of Kang, Creusere, sophomore Allie Marvell (Nashua, NH) and LaPointe, which finished eighth in 8:11.11.
 
WPI is back in action in its home pool as the Gompei Invitational resumes Saturday with preliminaries beginning at 9am, followed by diving and evening finals at 6pm.
 
Results