Gallaudet men’s swim team sinks Hood on Senior Day, Bennett wins three events

WASHINGTON, D.C. – There was a lot to celebrate Sunday afternoon for
the Gallaudet University men’s swim team as the Bison defeated Hood
College, 108-89, before a great crowd at the Field House pool on
Senior Day. The victory is the first for Gallaudet in nearly two
seasons as the Bison finish the regular-season with a 1-8 record and
1-5 mark in the Capital Athletic Conference. This was the second and
final home meet of the season for Gallaudet as the program celebrated
its 50th anniversary the night before with alumni, supporters and
current swimmers.

Sophomore Brian Bennett (Colorado Springs, Colo.) led the way as he
won three individual events and set a new team record in the process.
Bennett touched the wall first in the 200-yard freestyle with a time
of 1:51.36 to better the program record that was previously set by
Ray Clark (1:52) in 2005. The sophomore swimmer also took home
first-place honors in the 200-yard IM (2:13.65) and the 100-yard
freestyle (51.74 seconds). In total Bennett accumulated 27 team
points for the Buff and Blue.

Gallaudet swept the two relays against Hood (1-6, 0-5 CAC) as the
Bison won the 200-yard medley (2:00.97) and the 200-yard freestyle
(1:44.00) relays. Freshman Dan Burton (Waukesha, Wis.) was the only
Bison swimmer to compete in both relays. He also took home
second-place in the 50-yard free (24.85 seconds). Sophomore Grady
Gallagher (Las Vegas, Nev.) was the other Bison swimmer with two
first-place finishes and one third-place finish. Gallagher was a
member of the 200-yard free relay and won the 500-yard free (5:43.26)
as he beat the field by over 27 seconds. He finished third in the
200-yard free (2:04.22).

Junior Daniel DiDonna (Parsippany, N.J.) was part of 17 team points
for GU as he was a member of the 200-yard medley relay that brought
in 11 points. DiDonna also finished second in the 100-yard
breaststroke (1:09.87) and third in the 50-yard free (25.06 seconds),
just behind Burton. The final member of the 200-yard medley relay was
Kris Lauderbaugh who had two third-place finishes in the 100-yard
butterfly (1:14.31) and the 100-yard backstroke (1:10.95).

Two members of the first-place relay teams for GU included junior
Sean Ryant (Cleveland, Ohio) in the 200-yard freestyle relay and
freshman Daniel Katz-Hernandez (Montgomery Village, Md.) in the
200-yard medley relay, who also took third in the 1,000-yard
freestyle (14:01.88).

Sophomore Kyle Sexton (Peoria, Ill.) had a strong day as he finished
first, second and third in three different events. Sexton was the
fourth and final member of the first-place 200-yard freestyle relay,
second in the 1,000-yard freestyle (12:21.70) and third in the
100-yard freestyle (58.42).

The meet was a special day for Gallaudet senior Joseph Lopez
(Riverside, Calif.) who swam in his last meet at home for the Bison.
In the second to last event of the day, Lopez finished third in the
100-yard breaststroke (1:21.40) just behind DiDonna.

The last win for the Bison came on January 19, 2008, when Gallaudet
won at home against Hood, 94-88. Last year, the Blazers beat the
Bison, 93-63.

Gallaudet will now have three weeks to train and prepare for the 2010
CAC Championships that will be held at St. Mary’s (Md.) College in
St. Mary’s City, Md., on February 12-14.