Richter Crosses Finish Line First in 100 Butterfly

SCRANTON, Pa. — Morgan Richter (Cleburne, Texas/Cleburne) became the first male swimmer in the history of Goucher's swimming program to win a conference title in back-to-back seasons when he touched first in the championship finals of the 100-yard butterfly tonight at the 2014 Landmark Conference Men's Swimming & Diving Championships.

The sophomore, who will get a chance to defend his title in the 200 butterfly on the final day of the three-day meet, entered the 100 fly finals slotted as the No. 3 seed based on his time of 52.81 seconds in this morning's preliminaries. In the finals, he owned a 9-hundredths of a second lead over Hunter Rowan from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy when he made the turn at the end of the first lap. Nobody was able to gain any ground on Richter in the final lap as he completed the event in :51.92, which is a new school record.

USMMA's William Kelsik was the runner-up (:52.32) and Rowan placed third (:52.54).

Richter's victory in the 100 butterfly was worth 20 points to the Gophers. They picked up 14 more when Colin Richter (Cleburne, Texas/Cleburne) placed fifth overall in the 100 backstroke and an additional six points for an 11th-place finish by Cody Nelson (Duanesburg, N.Y./Schalmont) in the 100 breaststroke.

Morgan Richter broke a second school record on the meet's second day when he was clocked at 1:45.80 swimming the first 200 yards of the 800 free relay. The former mark of 1:45.94 was established in 2005 by Jon Claus.

The rest of Goucher's entry in the 800 free relay consisted of Dean Silverman (Chappaqua, N.Y./Horace Greeley), Colin Richter and Sam Davis (Wilmington, Del./Wilmington Friends) and its aggregate time for the event was 7:16.48, another school record.

The Gophers earned 26 points for placing sixth in the 800 free relay.

They also placed sixth, good for another 26 points toward their total, in the 200 medley relay. The foursome of Colin Richter, Nelson, Morgan Richter and Davis was clocked at 1:38.04.

Today's haul of 92 points brings Goucher's two-day total to 176, which puts the Gophers in sixth place in the team standings. They are 58 behind fifth-place Scranton.