WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Tigers opened the competitive portion of their 2011 season Friday with a first place finish at the Potomac Relay Invitational held at American University. A team score of 122 was good enough to win the seven school competition.

The Towson team of Zack Stone and Wes Foltz were victorious in the 1000-yard freestyle relay, posting an overall time of 9:33.37 and beating second place George Mason by 3.97 seconds.

Stone was also part of a relay group with teammates Matt Collingwood, Jordan Lingo and Zac Jelinek that posted a second place time of 7:05.76 in the 800-yard freestyle relay.  

“To be able to go in and perform as well as they did exceeded my expectations,” Towson Coach Pat Mead said. “At no point did our guys back down. We accomplished exactly what I was hoping to do. We want to earn some respect and I think we definitely did that.”

The Tigers also took home second place in the 300-yard butterfly relay, with a team comprised of Jon Burr, Philip Forrester and Foltz.

John Gartland, Ryan Westhafer and Billy Pappas posted a time of 3:05.18 to earn second place in the 300-yard breaststroke. The trio lost to Georgetown University by less than a second.

The Towson divers also had a strong showing Saturday, as Alex Cohen took second place in both the one and three meter events. Cohen posted a score of 208.25 in the one meter and 193.45 in the three meter dive.

Towson will return to the pool Saturday, Oct. 8 when they open Colonial Athletic Association action on the road against William & Mary. The meet will begin at 1 p.m.