TAMPA, Fla. – The Lynn University men's and women's swimming teams opened the 2024 portion of their campaigns with a Sunshine State Conference meet at nationally-ranked Tampa, Saturday. The No. 22 ranked Fighting Knight women fell to the No. 4 Spartans 163-99, while the Lynn men lost 203-59 to the second-ranked Spartans.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED (Women):
- Lynn opened the meet with a win in the 200 medley as the team of Laura Dekoninck, Malaika Schneider, Luna Mertins and Shachaf Bachar posted a 1:46.59
- Julia Delaney placed fourth in the 1,000 freestyle (11:12.93), while teammate Olivia Sherlock finished sixth (11:57.33)
- Bachar finished third in both the 200 and 500 freestyles with times of 1:57.94 and 5:20.58
- Dekoninck took home a win in all three of her individual events, the 100 backstroke (58.15), 50 freestyle (24.17) and 100 freestyle (53.10)
- Schneider placed first in the 100 breaststroke (1:07.25), while Claudia Porta was in the mix finishing third (1:08.28)
- Mertins finished with a win in the 100 butterfly (57.40) and took two second-place finishes in the 200 butterfly (2:06.14) and 200 backstroke (2:07.77)
- Schneider finished third in the 200 breaststroke (2:25.51), with Sasha Giourtzidou made her presence known with fourth (2:30.06)
- In the last individual event, Giourtzidou finished strong by placing second in the 200 individual medley (2:13.98). Her teammate Lexi Lundell finished fourth (2:16.32) and scoring points to help the Fighting Knights
- The 400 freestyle relay team of Schneider, Bachar, Olivia Flack and Katie Laferriere ended the afternoon with second in 3:40.35
 
HOW IT HAPPENED (Men)
- The 200 medley relay team of Maurice Grabowski, Kamil Piotrowicz, Max Tsyfarov and Malek Masmoudi finished in fifth (1:36.38)
- The 1,000 freestyle finished 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6^th, respectively, behind Lincoln Greseth (9:49.33), Conor Dunne (10:08.07), Andrew Shayka (10:27.98) and Derek Halas (10:30.98)
- Masmoudi (1:43.45) and Tsyfarov (1:44.10) took second and third in the 200 freestyle
- Grabowski finished fifth in the 100 backstroke (54.32)
- Piotrowicz (58.78) and Ryan Zasas (58.86) added second and third in the 100 breaststroke
- The Lynn men's 200 butterfly finished 5^th, 6^th, 7^th and 8^th behind Greseth (1:57.49), Owen Pogwist (2:04.68), Jeff Davenport (2:05.58) and Alexander Flanagan (2:09.30)
- Tsyfarov (47.29) and Grabowski (49.38) finished fourth and fifth in the 100 freestyle
- Jack Budd (2:02.98), Chase Gagnon (2:04.80), Mike Sickels (2:07.02) and Davenport (2:10.30) finished 5^th, 6^th, 7^th and 8^th in the 200 backstroke
- Zasas placed second in the 200 breaststroke (2:10.08), while teammates Piotrowicz (2:13.64), Russell Hart (2:13.75) and Joseph Cirame (2:14.37) finished 4th, 5^th and 6^th
- Masmoudi also added third in the 500 freestyle (4:47.30)
- Tsyfarov (1:55.11) and Zasas (2:02.41) finished out the individual events placing second and fifth in the 200 individual medley
- The 400 freestyle relay team of Budd, Masmoudi, Spencer Hobbs and David Romeo finished fifth (3:19.89)
 
UP NEXT:
- The Lynn Fighting Knights return to the McCusker Pool Complex for Senior Day on Saturday Jan. 20 at 11:00 am as they take on the Florida Southern Mocs