KINGS POINT, N.Y. (Feb. 1, 2025) – On Saturday, the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy men's swimming & diving meet hosted the USMMA Memorial Invitational. There were no team scores kept at the event, and prior to action getting underway, the Mariners paid tribute to their graduating seniors with a special Senior Day ceremony.
 
Meet Links

• Complete Results
• Senior Day Photo Gallery 

Junior Teague Mayer (Boulder, Colo.) won all four events he swam in on the day, as he led off the 200 medley relay team that touched first with a time of 1:34.49. Individually, he triumphed in the 200 individual medley (1:56.83), the 100 backstroke (53.50) and the 200 back (1:54.54).
 
Joining Mayer on the victorious 200 MR team were sophomore Luke Dankert (Grand Island, Neb.), senior Joseph DeCarlo (Powder Springs, Ga.) and freshman John Frank (Highland, Md.).
 
Dankert also touched first in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 58.28 and the 200 breast in 2:12.49, while DeCarlo won the 200 butterfly in 2:00.11 and the 100 fly (51.69).
 
Also earning first-place finishes on the day were junior Ryan Chmielenski (Bristow, Va.) in the 400 individual medley (4:18.68, a season-best time by 14 seconds), sophomore Jason Equiano (Yonkers, N.Y.) in the 200 freestyle (1:48.30) and classmate Ryan Lester (Heath, Texas) in the 1650 free (1:48.30, a season-best by 46 seconds)
 
The 400 free relay team of grad. student Daniel Scherrer (Wellesley, Mass.), Equiano, Frank and junior Matthew Wachendorfer (Greensboro, N.C.) finished in first place with a time of 3:13.07.
 
The Mariners also racked up eighth additional top-three finishes listed below. 

• Senior Andrew Turbyfill (Fredericksburg, Va.) came in second place in both the 400 IM (4:22.16, a season-best time by 14 seconds) and the 200 breast (2:15.16), while also placing third in the 100 breast (1:02.46).
• Equiano placed third in the 100 free (1:02.46)
• Chmielenski came in third in the 100 back (54.90)
• Scherrer was third in the 400 IM (4:33.42)
• and senior Brendan Griffiths (Easton, Pa.) placed third in both the one-meter (261.20) and three-meter (261.15) diving competitions 

The following swimmers also recorded season-best times. 

• Frank in the 500 free by 30 seconds (5:13.87)
• Turbyfill in the 500 free by 22 seconds (4:58.14)
• Wachendorfer in the 500 free by seven seconds (5:00.72) and the 50 free by 0.08 (22.73)
• Freshman Noel Park (Wayne, Pa.) in the 500 free by three seconds (5:12.23)
• Senior Evan Davis (Bethany Beach, Del.) in the 100 free by two seconds (49.30), the 50 free by 0.35 (22.72) and the 100 fly by one second (55.24)
• DeCarlo in the 50 free by 0.06 (22.65)
• Freshman Brendan Baser (Cary, Ill.) in the 100 fly (57.72)
• and Chmielenski in the 100 fly (54.61) 

The "Mariner of the Meet" honors, awarded based on a team vote to an individual for their performance and contribution to the team, went to Evan Davis, while Brendan Griffiths took home the honor for the divers.
 
The Mariners now have just under two weeks to train for the 2025 New Jersey Athletics Conference (NJAC) Championship Meet, which will be held Thursday, Feb. 13 to Sunday, Feb. 16 down at the Hampton Aquaplex in Hampton, Va. Ticket information for the 2025 NJAC Championships is available at this link.
 
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