NEW PALTZ, N.Y. – The Union College men's swimming and diving team saw several strong performances despite dropping a 143-112 meet to SUNY New Paltz on Saturday afternoon.
 
The Union men won six events on the day, led by first-year Nick Megas and junior Drew Hill with two individual wins apiece. Senior Tony Piacentini also earned an individual win, while Megas and Hill were joined by senior Walter Kraus and junior Benjamin Sperling in earning a relay victory.
 
Piacentini earned the first win for Union on the day in the 1000 freestyle, touching the wall in 11:07.42 to win by nearly 30 seconds and eclipse his previous season best by almost 25 seconds. He added a second-place race in the 500 free, finishing in 5:22.03.
 
Megas earned his first win of the day in the 200 free, winning by just over one second with a time of 1:50.03 for the team's best time of the young season. The first-year added a second victory in the 50 free, out-touching New Paltz's Jack Samko by 0.35 seconds to win with a time of 22.23. Megas also earned a second-place finish behind Hill in the 100 free, clocking in with a time of 49.84.
 
Hill won the 100 free with a time of 49.39 and also touched the wall first in the 100 butterfly, finishing in 52.60 seconds to post a win of over 2.5 seconds. Hill posted a top-two finish in the 100 backstroke as well, touching in 57.07.
 
Hill and Megas ended the day with their third victory, teaming with Sperling and Kraus to finish the 200 free relay in 1:30.29, winning by more than six-tenths of a second.
 
Junior Josh Hiller chipped in a runner-up finish in the 200 backstroke, finishing in 2:14.31, as did first-year Brayden Green with a 2:24.13 race in the 200 breast and a 2:11.69 race in the 200 IM.
 
Union will be back in the pool next Saturday with a 1 p.m. meet at Skidmore College.