The Misericordia University men's swim team opened the season with a thrilling come-from-behind win over Arcadia, Saturday in the Anderson Center.

The Cougars won the final two events to take the lead for the first time of the day to win 138.5-123.5.

Gannon Schwalm won the 100 and 200 breaststrokes and 200 IM.

Jacob Rose won the 100 free and 100 fly.

The Cougars finished 1-2 in the 400 free relay to clinch the win.

The Cougars kicked off the meet by roaring to a first-place finish in the 400 medley relay with first-year Michael Cooper anchoring a blistering 49.39 freestyle leg to out-split, Arcadia's anchor by 2.18 seconds to secure the win.

Arcadia won five of the next six events to take a 77.5-53.5 lead into the first break. Gannon Schwalm and Sean Tadiello finished 1-2 in the 100 breaststroke for MU's only individual win during that span.

The Cougars roared back to win five of the final seven events.

Jacob Rose (51.22) and Cooper (51.40) teamed up for a 1-2 finish in the 100 freestyle and Schwalm (2:21.40) and fellow senior Robert Gronwald (2:28.83) placed 1-2 in the 200 yard breaststroke.

Rose (55.10) won the 100 butterfly Schwalm (2:04.63) tacked on his third individual win of the day in the 200 IM.

With MU leading 123.5-121.5, the meet came down to a winner-take-all in the final relay.

Misericordia's A-relay of Chase McCray, Dannik Khais, Cooper and Aidan Lippert secured first place to clinch the team win while Misericordia's B-team of Alex Flesta, Jackson Massey, Jack Sedito and Ryan Hauer relay added a second place finish.

The Cougars are back in action when they host Messiah, Friday.
 
Head Coach's Alexander Taylor's Thoughts:
"This was a tremendous team effort today.  When we spoke as a team yesterday, I told the guys that we might be down by 20 points after the first several events and this meet would be a test of how hard we can fight.  They rose to the occasion and earned the win.  We have our work cut out as we move forward and we're excited to see what we can accomplish this season."