PORTLAND, Ore.—Lewis & Clark College men's swimming won nine of their 11 events and junior Ezra Billings set the program record in the 50 Free, to lead the Pioneers to a 128-47 win over the University of La Verne in both team's season openers. 
 
THE BASICS
 
Lewis & Clark 128, La Verne 47
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
Six Pioneers won individual races, led by Billings - who earned two individual wins and was also part of a winning relay team. 
 
In his first race as a Pioneer, Billings took down his first program record. The junior transfer finished first out of four swimmers in the 50 Free with a program-record time of 20.79. Senior Ian Holmberg finished second (24.30) and sophomores Colin Ziegler (24.58) and Aidan Beatty (27.34) took fourth and fifth places. 
 
Billings added a win in the 100 Free as well. He touched the wall in 48.40 to take first place. Beatty placed second in the event with a final time of 1:00.66. 
 
Junior Zach Martin earned the first individual win of the night in the 200 Yard Free. He beat out a field of three swimmers with a final mark of 1:51.61. First year Sam LoCurto, who was making his debut in the race, placed second overall with a time of 1:52.30. 
 
Junior Michael Spicer claimed first place in the 100 Fly. Spicer beat out LoCurto for first with Spicer touching the wall in 54.01. LoCurto was just behind his teammate and finished second with a final time of 54.83. 
 
Senior Isaac Anderson won the closest race of the night in the 100 Yard Breaststroke. Anderson beat out a field of five swimmers with a mark of 1:06.51. Martin came in second with a time just .10 behind Anderson (1:06.25). Ziegler finished third out of five swimmers with a final mark of 1:10.68. 
 
Senior Micah Rysavy beat out a pair of teammates to win the 500 Free. Rysavy, Spicer and senior Aidan Ringel all finished within a second of each other to finish first, second and third. Rysavy touched the wall in 5:14.04, with Spicer (5:14.57) and Ringel (5:15.01) finishing just behind him. 
 
Ringel finished first in the 1,650 Free. In the first individual event of the season, Ringel was the lone entry in the mile and finished with a time of 18:44.59. 
 
In the 200 IM, Anderson placed second out of five swimmers with a team-best time of 2:12.07. Rysavy finished fourth overall with a mark of 2:19.19. 
 
Holmberg placed second in the 100 Backstroke. He finished second out of three swimmers with a final time of 1:00.82. 
 
Lewis & Clark won both of the relays on Friday night. In the first event of the season, Holmberg, Anderson, Spicer and Ziegler combined to win the 200 Medley Relay in 1:46.34. The Pioneers added a win in the 200 Free Relay. Billings, LoCurto, Rysavy and Martin crushed La Verne by over 10 seconds with a time of 1:28.55. 
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• Billings' time of 20.79 broke Andrew Butcher's record in the 50 Free by .18 seconds. Butcher set the program record during the 2017-18 season. 
• The 200 Freestyle Relay team of Billings, LoCurto, Rysavy and Martin swam the 8^th-fastest time in program history. Their mark of 1:28.55 is three seconds off the program record. 
• LoCurto and Billings were each making their L&C debuts. LoCurto was making his collegiate debut, while Billings was swimming in a collegiate meet for the first time since the 2021-22 season when he swam for NCAA DII Northern Michigan University. 
• The win marked Lewis & Clark's first season-opening win in over a decade. 

WHO'S NEXT 
 
Lewis & Clark will host their Alumni Meet on Saturday at 10 a.m. The Pioneers will open conference competition on Friday, November 1 at 5:00 p.m., when they host Linfield University.