Refreshed and tanned from their training trip to Ft. Lauderdale, FL, the Mariner Swimming and Diving Team started the new year off right with victories over Adelphi and John Jay.

The men easily defeated Division II Adelphi 133-84, while the women squeezed out a morale-boosting victory over Division II Adelphi 57-54 and cruising past the John Jay Bloodhounds 93 - 18.

With the women's success riding on the second to last event of the evening, sophomore Robyn Jimenez led the Mariners to victory with an exciting swim in the 100-yard breaststroke, beating the runner-up, Adelphi Panther sophomore Amanda Knapp by barely a second.

On the men's side, sophomore Jay Carpenter carried away two first place finishes in the 100-yard butterfly and 50-yard freestyle.

Other event winners were freshman David Scarberry, freshman Scott Pearson, senior Jesse Bowser and junior Bryan Vagts.

Scarberry started the men off right with a win in the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 10:19.94.

Vagts won the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:27.06, beating Panther Arnold Brulhardt by almost 11 seconds. He dropped 32 seconds off his time in his performance in the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 11:05.48, swimming in second behind Scarberry.

Junior Benjamin Christian also improved his time in the 1000-yard freestyle event, dropping 42 seconds off his season's best time. Christian came in fifth behind Scarberry, Vagts and Panthers Brulhardt and Timmy Mueller.

Pearson beat out Adelphi's Benjamin Dellagiovanna with a time of 55.25 in the 100-yard backstroke, giving the Mariners their fifth individual win of the evening.

Bowser, swimming in his first 200-yard event in three years due to an injury, outswam his opponents for a win in the 200-yard IM, with a time of 2:07.09.

Mariner Freshman Chris Funke finished .25 second after Bowser, dropping one second off his season's best time in the 200-yard IM.

The Mariner men added some new faces off the diving platform for tonight's meet, juniors Justin Adams and Justin Backus.

"Justin Adams and Justin Backus showed tremendous courage diving in their first competition, especially against a Division II opponent like Adelphi," said Tedesco.

Adams won the 1M diving for the Mariners with a score of 234.15. Backus sealed a victory off the 3M board with a score of 139.43.

The Mariners were delighted with their success overall. This was our first swim meet in four weeks," said Tedesco. "It was very successful and a good tune-up for our dual meet against our rival Rowan University on Saturday."

For the women, Mariner senior Allyson Christensen beat out her four other competitors for a first place finish in the 1,000-yard freestyle. Her final time was 12:50.97, which knocked 24-seconds off of her personal best time.

Other Mariners dropping seconds off their season best times were senior Jacqueline Paul, dropping five seconds off her time in the 1,000-yard freestyle (12:51.96); junior Morgan Evans swimming her three seconds under her season best in the 200-yard freestyle (2:11.03) and dropping 2.5 seconds her best in the 100-yard freestyle (59.08), junior Elizabeth Mock, dropping two seconds in the 100-yard butterfly (1:20.08) and sophomore Caitlyn Lundy, who led the 200-yard freestyle relay, dropped two seconds off her season best time in her 50-yard split (32.74).

Mock's time of 59.08 in the 100-yard freestyle earned her a first place finish, and helped gain critical points for the Mariners.

Senior Marlaina Pippen's performance on the 1M diving platform helped the Mariners earn key points for the win over Adelphi. Pippen's score of 236.40 fell just short of the school record of 240.00, held by Michelle Wysocki. Pippen was tonight's only double-event winner for the women, placing first in both the 1M and 3M Diving events.