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Bennett makes a splash in debut for GU men's swim team

ARLINGTON, Va. - Sophomore Brian Bennett (Colorado Springs, Colo.) had a strong debut for the Gallaudet University men's swim team on Friday night at Marymount (Va.) University as the Bison swam in a double dual meet with the Saints from the Capital Athletic Conference and non-conference opponent Frostburg State University. The Bison dropped both meets as the Saints won 59-36 and the Bobcats won 58-37.

Bennett won two individual events and finished second in one event to help the Bison (0-8, 0-5 CAC) secure team points. Bennett started the meet with a bang as he won the 1,000-yard freestyle with a time of 10:30.38. The win gave Gallaudet a clean sweep in the 1,000-yard freestyle as women's swimmer Carlisle Robinson (Carmel, Ind.) won the event a half hour before. Later in the meet, Bennett took home first-place honors in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:06.11. He completed his domination in the freestyle events as he finished second in the 100-yard free with a time of 51.77 seconds, less than a second behind Marymount's Brian Tinsman (50.90 seconds). Junior Daniel DiDonna (Parsippany, N.J.) had two second-place finishes overall in the 200-yard IM (2:29.73) and the 100-yard breaststroke (1:10.44). Freshman Dan Burton (Waukesha, Wis.) finished third overall in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:11.12.

In the final event of the night, the finish was pure excitement as Frostburg State edged Gallaudet by 14 hundredths of a second, 1:44.41 to 1:44.55, in the 200-yard freestyle relay. The Bison relay team consisted of junior Ben Taylor (Indianapolis, Ind.), sophomores Grady Gallagher (Las Vegas, Nev.), Kyle Sexton (Peoria, Ill.) and freshman Kailob Miller (Ardmore, Okla.). The Bison also had a second team take third-place with a time of 1:54.68. That team featured junior Sean Ryant (Cleveland, Ohio), sophomore Brandon Pound (Utica, Ohio), freshman Daniel Katz-Hernandez (Montgomery Village, Md.) and Kris Lauderbaugh.

Gallaudet will host Hood College on Sunday, January 24, in the final regular-season home meet for the Bison seniors. The CAC meet begins at 1 p.m. in the Field House pool.