LEXINGTON, Va. (November 11, 2023) - The Howard University men's swimming & diving team picked up a win in Lexington, Va., Saturday afternoon, besting UMBC, 164-126, in VMI's annual quad-meet.
 
The Bison saw their highest-ranked performances later on in the meet with senior Mark-Anthony Thompson (Nassau, Bahamas) earning a second-place finish in the men's 100-yard breaststroke with his season-best of 57.20.
 
Howard kept the momentum going in the 200 Yard Butterfly, earning their second consecutive runner-up spot when sophomore Taj Benton beat the competition by tenths of a second, swimming 1:54.41 - a season-best for the Baltimore native.
 
HU picked up its last second-place finish in the final event of the evening where fans saw the Bison comfortably outswim their competitors. In a program favorite, Benton, graduate Arion Solomon (Fairburn, Ga.) and seniors Spencer Miles (Lynchburg, Va.) and Tristan Stevens (Chicago) swam a time of 1:25.67 in the 200-yard Freestyle Relay.
 
Junior standout diver Jordan Walker (San Antonio) helped push the Bison up the leaderboard with his score of 245.85 points – nearly 40 points ahead of the competition to finish in third.
 
In one of the more exciting Bison performances, it all came down to the final strokes to round out the top three in the 100 Yard Butterfly. Benton held on for a 50.46 finish, falling behind by .22 and besting his next competition by .11 seconds to claim third place.
 
It was heavy competition for the Bison as they fell, 184-113, to the hosting Keydets and 203-95 to northern foe NJIT.
 
The Bison return to the pool December 1 when they compete in Loyola's 2-day event, the H2ounds Invitational.
 
For more information visit the Howard Athletics website www.hubison.com.