Gophers Earn Program's First Dual Victory over Royals

TOWSON, Md. — Goucher entered this afternoon's home opener against Scranton having never defeated the Royals in a dual meet. Three pool records and eight race victories later, that stat is now a thing of the past.

The 200-yard medley relay team for the Gophers set a new pool mark in the first event of the day, while Sam Davis (Wilmington, Del./Wilmington Friends) and Colin Richter (Cleburne, Texas/Cleburne) set new individual pool records in the 50 freestyle and 100 backstroke to help Goucher edge out a 104-101 victory.

"Having never beaten Scranton before, this is a huge win for our program," head coach Thomas Till remarked. "They have always been a strong rival so to come out and squeak out a win was just awesome for our guys."

Morgan Richter (Cleburne, Texas/Cleburne) won each of the three races he participated in, while Colin Richter and Davis each took first place in a pair of events.

The medley relay foursome of Colin Richter, Brian Cha (Lake Oswego, Ore./Lakeridge), Jerel McCord (Fort Wayne, Ind./South Side) and Davis set the tone for the afternoon, as their first-place time of 1:39.59 broke a pool record which had stood since Jan. 18, 2005 and topped Scranton's second-place finisher by 0.71.

McCord then grabbed a second-place result in the 1000 free, clocking in at 11:00.84 as the Gophers took second, third and fourth in the event.

Goucher would top the Royals in each of the next seven races, beginning with Morgan Richter (1:48.72) besting the field by just under four seconds in the 200 free. Richter also claimed victories in the 100 fly (54.08) and the 500 free (5:00.45), winning by nearly 13 seconds over his nearest Scranton competitors in the latter.

Davis' time of 21.77 in the 50 free was only 14-hundredths off of his personal best, and it topped the previous pool record of 22.18 set by Merchant Marine back on Jan. 15, 2011. The senior team captain additionally took first in the 100 free, touching in at 48.84.

Colin Richter began the individual portion of his day with a 4.89-second victory in the 200 IM, finishing the race in 2:02.07. He then cruised to a three-second win in the 100 back, and his time of 54.25 broke a pool mark which had held since Johns Hopkins completed the race in 55.89 on Jan. 29, 2000.

Cha added a second-place showing for Goucher in the 100 breaststroke (1:02.89), finishing less than a second behind Michael Ambrose from the Royals.

Scranton was projected by the Landmark coaches to finish fourth in the conference during the 2014 preseason poll. With today's win, the Gophers improve their meet record this season to 5-1.

Goucher will look for win number six next Saturday with another home meet, this time against Gallaudet. The first race is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. from the von Borries Aquatic Center.