Feb. 18, 2007

New Brunswick, NJ - After three days of outstanding swimming the NJIT men's swimming team recorded their best conference finish in the history of the program. The Highlanders finished the three day competition with 328 points.

Sunday prelims saw a new Highlander advance to the scoring round. In the first event of the morning, Dan Botero swam a seasonal best time in the 200 yard backstroke and advanced to the bonus final. Botero became the fifth highlander to advance to an individual final in this year's meet.

In the next event, the 100 yard freestyle, three highlanders advanced. Marc Ubaldi, Hayk Ekshian and Alan Roberts each saw their fastest time of the season and moved on to the evening's finals.

In the 200 yard breaststroke, Rob Franc did the same. Clocking a seasonal best time, Franc secured a 12th place finish to move on to the evening's consolation final. Franc's swim gave him the highest NJIT swim of the preliminary heats.

The morning ended the way the first morning began with the Highlanders breaking another school record. The Squad of Hayk Ekshian, Alan Roberts, Jim Paccioretti and Marc Ubaldi broke the existing school record in the 400 yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:22.96.

In the Sunday night final, the Highlanders continued to increase their point total. Dan Botero picked up points in the 200 yard backstroke as did Ekshian, Ubaldi and Roberts in the 100 yard freestyle. Rob Franc's 12th place finish in the 200 yard breaststroke earned the Highlanders their most individual points of the night.

The Highlanders ended the night in style with another school record in the 400 yard freestyle relay. Ekshian, Roberts, Paccioretti and Ubaldi lowered their time to 3:20.22 and earned a 10th place finish in the evening's final event.

(description courtesy of head coach Eric Rasmussen)