LEXINGTON, Va. – The Southern Virginia University men's swim team got the 2022-23 season underway, taking down Virginia Wesleyan 148-51 at the Rockbridge Aquatics Center Friday evening.

In the first men's event of the meet, the 200-medley relay, Parker Kam gave the Knights an early lead in the first leg. Travis Lott gave up some ground on the second leg, but Lincoln Garcia stretched the lead with a solid performance in his first collegiate race. Josh Axtell closed out strong, giving the relay team a first-place finish with a 1:43.82 time.

Southern Virginia would sweep the event with the team comprised of Lane Evans, Carson Macdonald, Porter Jones and Benjamin Landheim coming in second and the group of Austin Barton, Caleb Wynn, Matthew Rose and Stuart Burbidge coming in third.

In the next event, Caleb Wynn got off the block strong, building an early lead which he would add to throughout the race. Wynn would finish with a time of 1:51.65 to win the 200 freestyle.

Austin Barton battled with Eddie McDonald of Virginia Wesleyan throughout the race but edged him out in the last 25 yards to come in second overall in the event with a time of 2:05.58.

The Knights would also sweep the 50 backstroke, with Josh Skabelund coming away with the victory. Skabelund got off the block quick and never looked back, finishing the race in 25.91. Benjamin Landheim would finish second, followed by junior Lane Evans.

Carson MacDonald made the turn with a slight advantage in the 50 breastsroke but showed his endurance by adding to his lead in the second 25 to come away with the victory. Macdonald's teammate, Travis Lott, would finish second.

The Marlins would secure their first win of the meet in the 100 butterfly. For the Knights, Matthew Rose would beat out teammate Josh Axtell for the second-place finish.

Parker Kam got an early lead in the next event, the 50 free, and would hold onto that lead, edging out teammate Joshua Skabelund, for his second victory of the evening.

In the 100 free, freshman Caleb Wynn would get out to an early lead, with fellow freshman Carson Macdonald right behind him. Macdonald would overtake his teammate in the second 25 and hold on to the slight advantage to beat out Wynn by less than two-tenths of a second.

In the longest event of the meet, the 500 freestyle, Stuart Burbidge would edge out teammate Matthew Rose with a 5:11.13 time to win the race, with Freshman Austin Barton finishing fourth.

Joshua Skabelund and Josh Axtell would battle it out in the 50 butterfly, finishing with 24.85 and 25.76 times respectively to secure first and second.

The 100 individual medley brought some fireworks with Parker Kam getting the early lead with the butterfly, but teammate Caleb Wynn would make up time on the breaststroke. Wynn finished with a solid freestyle to beat out Kam to win with a 56.62 time. Porter Jones would round out the top-three for the Knights.

"It was a great first step for the team," stated Joshua Skabelund after the meet. "We were able to go out and set a solid tone for the season and I know we will build on what we accomplished tonight. We have a very strong schedule ahead of us and I'm really excited to see what we can do this year."

Skabelund praised the newcomers, saying "we have a lot of great freshman who have stepped it up in practice and we've been able to create a competitive culture in our workouts which translates directly into the racing in the meets."

"The program is still relatively new to SVU and it's been a lot of fun to be a part of this team as it keeps getting better every single year," continued the senior.

Head coach Jennifer Moore was proud of her team's performance. "I love this group of swimmers for many reasons, one is that they love to race and we have a lot of fun doing that," exclaimed Moore.

The Knights will have a three-week hiatus before traveling to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to take on the Bullets on Saturday, October 29.

For all the most up-to-date information regarding Southern Virginia University men's and women's swimming, please visit knightathletics.com and follow @knight_swimming on Instagram.