Potsdam, NY – With victories in both relays and the top two spots of four individual events, the Clarkson University Men's Swimming and Diving team established a solid lead after 20 events at the North Country Invitational Friday afternoon at Maxcy Hall.

The Golden Knights' men nearly doubled up the competition with 310.5 points, far ahead of Monroe Community College (169), St. Michael's College (153.5), SUNY Potsdam (152), Colby-Sawyer College (90) and SUNY Delhi (62). Clarkson's women were firmly in third place through 20 total events with 157 points, trailing St. Michael's (340) and SUNY Potsdam (196) but ahead of Monroe Community College (139) and Colby-Sawyer College (105).

Freshman Jacob Baker won both of his events, placing first in the 200 individual medley (2:03.78) and the 200 backstroke (2:01.76). Baker was just one of the top three from Clarkson in the 200 individual medley, however, as classmate Benjamin Vondrak took second (2:07.10) and junior Chris Bankaitis came in third (2:08.84). Three other events saw Clarkson also claim the top two spots. In the 50 freestyle, Chris Bay won in 22.26 seconds but was followed closely behind by Benjamin Thibert (22.35). In the 100 breaststroke, Vondrak won in 1:01.82 and the second-place finisher was teammate Connor Maloney (1:05.40). Finally, the top two divers in the 1-meter were also Golden Knights, with Brent Reid winning with 225.65 points and Will Delaney taking runner-up with 168.80 points. Bay also placed second in the 100 butterfly (56.61) and Gavin Lopata was second in the 500 freestyle (5:17.75).

On the women's side, Clarkson didn't have any first-place finisher but did have a trio of runners-up. Isabel Dengos came in second in the 3-meter dive with 139.15 points, Lauren Grasberger finished second in the 200 backstroke (2:19.83) and Brooke Atkinson hit the pad second in the 100 butterfly with a time of 1:03.35.