BALTIMORE, Md.- The VMI men's swimming & diving team came away with a dual win over Northeast Conference foe Howard while dropping decisions to Johns Hopkins & Loyola at the Thomas Murphy Invitational this weekend, hosted by Loyola. The Keydets (1-3) earned their first dual win of the season by defeating Howard by a score of 182-121, while dropping decisions to Johns Hopkins (253-70) and Loyola (235-88).

"Hopkins is fast, they placed third at the NCAA Division III Championships last year," said VMI head swimming & diving coach Bill Nicholson. "And I think that we were more competitive against Loyola than we were last year. But our match-up against (NEC rival) Howard was the big match-up for us. They really took it to us Friday night, and we were only leading by 12 points headed into Saturday. But our guys stepped up and accepted the challenge and turned that 12 point lead into a 60 point win. The weekend really sets the table for what Championships will be like, and I liked what I saw. I think that if we continue on the track that we're on, we will be tough to beat when February rolls around."

The Keydet divers each posted a first and second place finish, as senior Kyle Madden won the three-meter event and placed second in the one-meter competition, while sophomore Brendon Geoghagen did the opposite. Also coming up with strong showings were the Keydet relay teams, placing fifth in each of the three relays.

Sophomore Jason Webb put up a sixth place finish in the 100 yard backstroke, turning in a time of 1:00.23, along with a seventh place finish in the 200 yard backstroke with a time of 2:10.36. He also swam the first leg of the 200 medley relay and the 800 freestyle relay, as well as competing in the 50 freestyle.

Senior Bart Payne came in seventh in the 200 butterfly with a mark of 2:12.66. He also contributed ninth-place finishes in the 200 and 400 individual medley while swimming the second leg of 200 medley relay for the Keydets. Senior Dane Elles and junior Stuart Craft each also contributed on the 200 freestyle and 200 medley relays, while placing ninth and tenth in the 100 freestyle.

Sophomore Peter Borchelt contributed eighth place finishes in the 100 and 200 backstroke events while also anchoring the 800 freestyle relay. Joining Borchelt and Webb on that relay were sophomore Chris Beyer and freshman Trevor Stanco. Beyer also placed eighth in the 1650 freestyle race and 11th in the 200 and 500 freestyle races, while Stanco also placed tenth in the 200 and 400 individual medley and 11th in the 100 backstroke.

The Keydets return to the pool this coming weekend, Nov. 18-19, when they participate at the highly competitive Davidson Invitational in Davidson, N.C.