Track and field opens season, men’s basketball breaks winning streak and other news

Basketball

The men’s basketball team lost its first game of the season 88-83 at Yeshiva University in Washington Heights on Wednesday. 

NYU started off strong, leading by 16 with just over 12 minutes left in the first half. However, Yeshiva fought back and cut the deficit to four by halftime. In the second half, the Maccabees took their first lead and held on to it for the final 13 minutes. Graduate student Darren Rubin had a chance to even the score late after graduate student Andrew Waldman secured an offensive rebound, but missed the potential game-tying three-pointer for the Violets.

Junior Carnegie Johnson led NYU in scoring with 20 points, and Rubin added 19 while hitting five threes. 

NYU bounced back with an 84-68 win against State University of New York, Farmingdale on Saturday, at the Paulson Center.

The game was tied 50-50 with just over 13 minutes left in the game, but a 7-0 run, started by a three-pointer by graduate student Alex Daniels, gave NYU the lead — which they would hold to secure the victory. 

Graduate student Luke Kolaja led the Violets with 25 points, shattering his previous high of 14 with NYU. Led by Rubin, Johnson and senior Bryan Moussako, who all shot over 50% from beyond the arc, NYU hit just over half of its threes.

The Violets return to action on Saturday, Dec. 13 at the Paulson Center where they will host Lancaster Bible College.

Fencing

The men’s and women’s fencing teams competed at the Sacred Heart Tradition Meet in Fairfield, CT on Saturday.

The Violets opened the day with a 19-8 loss against Princeton University after claiming epee 5-4 but dropping both saber and foil 7-2. In its second match, the team fell to Yale University 15-12 after coming up short, losing saber 6-3 and foil 5-4. NYU claimed its first victory of the day against Sacred Heart University after winning foil and epee 7-2 and 5-4, respectively. The Violets concluded with a 21-6 win over Vassar College, sweeping foil 9-0, claiming epee 7-2 and taking saber 5-4.

Senior Jerry Pan had seven victories in saber, while senior Farr Dickson claimed seven wins in foil and sophomore Ajit Sivakumar posted five wins in epee. 

The women’s team opened with a 16-11 loss against Princeton despite taking epee 6-3. In a tight battle, the team dropped its second match 15-12 against Temple University after a poor 8-1 loss in foil. In its third match, the Violets fell to Yale 18-9 despite their 6-3 win in epee. NYU claimed its first victory of the day in a 24-3 win over Sacred Heart, sweeping saber, foil and epee. The team closed out the meet with a 18-9 win over Vassar, where they swept foil 9-0.

Sophomore Katherine Chen continued her strong form with eight wins in epee. Junior 

Audrey Shitamoto picked up eight wins in foil, and first-year Liisa Hambazaza posted five wins in saber.

Both the men’s and women’s teams are back in action at the Philadelphia Invitational on Jan. 17 at the University of Pennsylvania. 

Swimming 

The men’s swimming team closed out the fall semester on Saturday with 194-104 and 211-89 victories over Fordham University and The College of New Jersey, respectively. 

At the tri-meet, NYU’s “A” team of sophomore Teddy McQuaid, sophomore Sean Li, junior Pierce Downs and junior Greg Wehbe claimed a narrow victory in the 200-yard medley, finishing just 0.03 seconds ahead of Fordham’s “A” team. 

Downs competed again in the 200-yard freestyle, taking home first place with a time of 1:40.36. Li picked up another victory for the Violets in the 100-yard breaststroke just ahead of junior Victor Derani.

Sophomore Maksym Nechydyuk placed first in the 200-yard butterfly race with a time of 1:53.56, while Derani won the 200-yard breaststroke by recording a time of 2:04.19.

In diving, senior Makai Harder and sophomore Nolan Jennings took second and third place, respectively, in the one-meter competition.

The women’s swimming team was in action on Saturday against Fordham and TCNJ, defeating the former 197-103. 

The Violets’ “A” team of first-year Maeve O’Donnell, first-year Babette Bradley, senior Nicole Ranile and first-year Llew Ladomirak took home second in the 200-yard medley relay, finishing under half a second behind Fordham.

Senior Emily Muller claimed first place in the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 10:29.10 — her best performance of the season in the event — while fellow senior Kaley McIntyre took home first in the 200-yard freestyle, just ahead of Ladomirak, who finished second.

Bradley and first-year Sammy Wong put in strong performances for NYU in the 100-yard breaststroke, finishing first and second, respectively. McIntyre continued to show her dominance, claiming the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyles.

Diving against Fordham, senior Meera Kasturi led the way for the Violets, taking third in the three-meter competition and fourth in the one-meter action.

Both the men’s and women’s teams are back in action with the swimmers competing against Gettysburg College on Jan. 14 and the full team facing off against John Hopkins University for Senior Day on Jan. 17 at Palladium Athletic Facility.

Track and field 

The men’s and women’s track and field teams opened the season with a pair of meets on Friday. Three athletes headed uptown for the Armory Collegiate Distance Carnival, and a larger group traveled to Staten Island for the FastTrack Season Opener.

At the carnival, sophomore Katharine Frank led the Violets with her fifth-place finish in the 3000m run, and sophomore Deia Mulligan set a personal best of 11:13.33 finishing sixth in the same event. In his first collegiate meet, first-year Edomias Mulugeta earned a top-10 finish for the men in the 3000m run. 

In the FastTrack Season Opener, NYU scored three top-five finishes in the mile. Junior Julian Aske stormed into second place, earning the highest finish for either team all weekend. From the women’s team, sophomore Gianna Dawson took fourth place and sophomore Rina Kurihara landed behind her by a hair. 

In first-year Alexa McMillian’s first meet with NYU, she finished fourth in the long jump with a distance of 5.31 meters. Two athletes from the men’s team, seniors Drew Boyce and James Thompson, also competed in the long jump and ended up 34 and 36 of 48 jumpers.

Thompson had a successful day, taking seventh in the 60m dash and setting a new career best of 7.26 seconds and earning a fifth-place finish in the 400m run. Sophomore Tyler Burch took fourth in the 60m dash.

The women’s team also sent four distance runners to Boston University on Saturday for the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener. Sophomore Stella Kuttner was the Violets’ top runner, finishing 58 of 95 athletes in the women’s 3,000m run.

Both teams will compete in the NYC Gotham Cup on Jan. 16, held at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex in Staten Island. 

Wrestling 

The No. 13-ranked wrestling team placed second overall at the Petrofes Invitational held in Mechanicsburg, PA on Saturday. 

The team’s outstanding performance on Friday earned NYU the top spot after the first day of competition, beating out host school Messiah University. Eight of NYU’s wrestlers qualified for Saturday’s events, including senior Jacob Venezia, who took first overall in the 133-pound weight class. First-year Cristian Gioia made it to the final match of the 174-pound bracket, but fell short of the win. The six remaining Violets fell in the semifinals of their brackets.

Messiah ended up back on top after day two of the meet, accumulating 172 points, just above NYU’s 158. Venezia had a productive day, winning his bracket once again, while Gioia fought hard to take second place in the 174-pound class. Three more Violets added points for NYU with third-place finishes.

The team returns home after the new year to host the UAA Challenge on Jan. 3, facing off against Johns Hopkins University, Gettysburg College and Centenary University. 

Contact the Sports Desk at [email protected].