Rowan men’s swimming got their first team win of the year for the 2022-23 season as they beat New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) rival Montclair State University 159-103 at home on Saturday, Nov. 5.

The Profs now improve to a record of 1-1 in dual meets, while Head Coach Brad Bowser was happy with the result, he still believes his team can do more.

“We were flat just like the Eagles were on Thursday night,” Coach Bowser said. “We were flat. We swam enough to win and that is all sometimes I look for in these meets because I want to see these guys become a little more self-motivated at the meet and see how they respond.” 

Individually, there were strong performances. Sophomore Tobias Cahnbley won both the 500 free (4:46.12) and the 100 backstrokes (52.49). Junior Jack Watson had the fastest time in the 50 free (21.70) and the 200 backstrokes (1:58.81).

In the 200 IM, fifth-year Kevin Yanagisawa earned top honors (2:02.19), senior Joe Rucci finished first (1:52.98) in the 200 butterflies, while Watson clocked in at 1:47.34 in the 200 free.

The times the Profs put up are becoming motivators to win and they want to keep on winning as a team and Individually. After last week’s loss to NYU 1480-114, the team knows they need to work on their techniques.

“Montclair, compared to Rowan, are not as fast,” Cahnbley said. We are doing pretty well but throughout could be a little better… we are pretty accomplished on how to do it… I feel like we have a really good energy to have a good team.”

For the Profs, it’s not just improving on techniques, it’s building a culture where everyone can trust one another, which is important on a roster of ten freshmen.

“Building culture for sure because we have such a young group consisting of ten freshmen,” Yanagisawa said. “We have to create a good environment and culture in between the swimmers, the coach, and even our competition too, to figure out how we can get faster.”

Creating a successful culture between the swimmers and their coach is extremely important for the team to succeed.

”Coming into this meet as an upperclassman now,” junior Alex Violin said. “I feel like I have a lot more experience and I know where I need to be by the end of the season, so it’s really just a step on the way there. Having last season under our belt helps to have that experience in the duel meets and I know what to expect on how I am going to be feeling at this point of the season.

The experience of the upperclassmen will help the team succeeds this year. The Profs’ next meet is away against Stevens Institute of Technology on Friday, Nov. 11.

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