New Rochelle, NY - The Iona College Men's Swimming and Diving team split its tri-meet on Tuesday night. The Gaels defeated St. Francis (NY) 82-18, but were sunk by Stony Brook, 69-39. Seth Tasman paced the Gaels taking two events, the 50 Free and 100 Fly.

The Gaels got off to a strong start with a victory in the 200 Medley Relay. The team of Joe Przekota, Matt Magura, Tasman, and Ed Gronkowski touched the wall at 1:40.34, 45 seconds ahead of the second place Seawolves team. Tasman touched the wall first in the 50 Free at 21.80. He finished 0.46 ahead of the second place finisher. Tasman's performance in the 100 Free, 54.22 was just ahead of teammate Trevor Creighton as the Gaels finished 1-2.

"Tasman and our sprint guys have been solid all year," said Head Coach Nick Cavataro. "He can really do some special things this year. He continues to surprise us with his speed and he's basically picked up where he left off last season."

Other strong finishes for the Gaels included Joe Przekota taking second place in the 200 Free (1:52.63) and the 100 Back (57.00). The 200 Free relay team of David Gartman, Graham Weir, Patrick St. Cin, Patrick and Creighton touched the wall with a time of 1:30.09. "We showed some signs of improvement in specific areas," added Cavataro. "Sprinting continues to be good and we attacked our middle distance races across the board."

The Gaels are back in action this weekend as they open MAAC Conference competition on the road against Canisius. Though this is only the third meet of the season for Cavataro's group, he feels that they're ready to compete. "We're going to quickly look to Saturday's meet against Canisius. Our kids all know our seasonal plan. We're still in the phase of conditioning and when you're stronger, it is a different feel when you're in the pool."