ITHACA, NY – The University of Rochester men's swimming & diving team sits in second place following the opening day of competition at the Ithaca College Bomber Invitational, hosted by Ithaca inside the Kelsey Partridge Bird Natatorium.
 
The Yellowjackets sit in second with 462 points, with the host Bombers holding the top spot with 865 points. Alfred University rounds out the top three competitors in the six-team field with 311 points, with Vassar, Union and Hobart in fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively.
 
Rochester earned a pair of top-three finishes in the opening day's action, which featured the 50 and 500-yard freestyle, the 200-yard individual medley, the three-meter dive and the 200-freestyle and 400-medley relays, with prelims being contested in the morning, followed by the finals in the evening.
 
Ben Friedberg scored Rochester's top result, finishing second in the 50-yard freestyle finals, after taking the same spot in the morning's prelims. Friedberg clocked in at 20.71 seconds in the finals, while Sebastian Gans and Connor Kann took 10th and 11th in the 'B' final, with times of 21.43 and 21.66 seconds. Jayden Proctor swam in the 'C' final and improved upon his 23rd-place result from the prelims, taking 18th with a time of 22.10 seconds.
 
Brendan Habert notched the 'Jackets' other individual, top-three result in the three-meter dive, scoring 355.65 points to take third, ahead of fellow Yellowjacket Max Wozinski, who placed fourth with a 351.30 score.
 
The Yellowjackets opened the evening with second and seventh-place finishes in the 200-yard freestyle relay, with UR's 'A' relay of Max McClung, Kann, Gans and Friedberg combining for a 1:24.09 time. The 'Jackets' 'B' relay of Brandon Weaver, Patrick Li, Proctor and Nate Attwell touched the wall in 1:27.81, good for seventh.
 
After placing fifth in the 500-yard freestyle prelims, Matthew Spence took seventh in the evening's final, improving his prelim time by .10 seconds down to 4:43.25. Attwell joined Spence in the 'A' final, touching the wall in 4:47.29 to finish eighth, while Ryan Bowering (10th, 4:44.35), Tyler Yeung (11th, 4:45.92) and Venden Berge (16th, 4:45.64) all placed in the 'B' final.
 
Rochester had three swimmers place, all in the 'B' final, in the 200 IM, led by Weaver, who came in ninth with a time of 1:58.80. Max Gjevre finished less than a second behind Weaver in 10th at 1:58.83, while Li took 13th, clocking in at 2:10.30.
 
Gans, Gjevre, McClung and Kann then wrapped up the first day of the Bomber Invitational with the 400-yard medley relay, taking third (3:28.11), while URochester's 'B' relay of Berge, Proctor, Bowering and Weaver placed eighth (3:39.13).
 
The Yellowjackets will jump back in the pool for day two of the Bomber Invitational in Ithaca, NY on Friday, Dec. 5, beginning at 9:00 a.m.