TOWSON, Md. – The Towson University men's swimming team enters 2018-19 with plenty of promise, experience and talent to make its 50th Anniversary season successful.
 
Featuring eight seniors, the Tigers believe they have the necessary ingredients to be among the best in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA). Towson also benefits from the return of two-time CAA Swimmer Of The Year Jack Saunderson and CAA Rookie Diver Of The Year Will Canny.
 
"The excitement level is through the roof," Towson University men's swimming head coach Jake Shrum said. "Our large group of seniors have been providing excellent leadership and holding everybody to high training standards this season. They've also been able to keep morale high while doing so which is no easy feat."
 
In addition to Saunderson, Towson's senior class features Zach Bishop, Evan Brophy, Spencer Franklin, Ben Johnston, Richard Keller, Aaron Magazine and Andrew Snyder. They all had big moments last season and are poised to create more memories.
 
After winning three individual gold medals and helping two relay teams earn medals, Saunderson was named the Men's Most Outstanding Swimmer of the Meet at the CAA championships for the second consecutive year last year. He won gold in the 100- and 200-yard butterfly for the third consecutive year, breaking the pool, CAA and program records in both events.
 
While Saunderson's swimming skills are elite, he has developed additional aspects to his leadership ability that make a difference and helps the Tigers.
 
"Jack is constantly pushing himself to be better every day, and to see someone's dedication pay off at the highest of levels reinforces the culture that we are developing," Shrum said. "Jack's biggest growth area the past two seasons has been becoming more comfortable being vocal, before, during, and after practices."
 
Saunderson, Franklin and sophomore Nick McClure will predominately compete in the fly events. Bishop and junior Owen Robinson are backstroke specialists. Leading Towson in the breaststroke will be junior Ryan O'Leary and sophomore Kenny Afolabi-Brown, who transferred from Connecticut.
 
In the sprint freestyle junior Matt Essing and freshman Ryan Baldino will be counted on to perform at a consistently high level during the season. Brophy and Magazine are the Tigers' distance freestyle swimmers. Johnston and sophomore Nick Fitzwilliam will compete in the individual medley. Canny and freshman Devin Gaul are Towson's divers.
 
In becoming the second Tiger in program history to earn CAA Rookie Diver Of The Year honors, Canny won the bronze medal and earned All-CAA honors on the 3-meter board at the CAA Championship with a score of 290.35 while placing seventh on the 1-meter with a score of 238.05.

Canny totaled a career-high 294.14 on the 3-meter to place first against Delaware on January 20 and posted a career-best 268.20 on the 1-meter to place second at Georgetown on October 14.
 
The Tigers boast a solid group of newcomers with plenty of potential.
 
"Ryan Baldino specializes in the sprint free events and has good range into the 200 free," Shrum said. "Evan Lynch is a rock solid 200-500 freestyler and has also impressed with his speed and his backstroke capabilities. Kenny Afolabi-Brown is an incredible sprint breaststroker. He's also a solid sprint freestyler and has shown the ability to take his breaststroke up to the longer distance, the 200. Cody Stewart is also someone to keep an eye on. He gets better week to week and has lightning quick best times in the 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly."
 
Towson begins its schedule on Saturday morning against Georgetown at Burdick Hall beginning at 11 a.m. Towson's final home event will be against Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) foe Drexel on Jan. 12. The Tigers will also celebrate Senior Day. That meet starts with diving events at 10 a.m. and swimming at 1 p.m.

The Tigers also competes locally in the Navy Invitational against Navy, Johns Hopkins and William & Mary on Oct. 19 beginning at 4 p.m. Towson also has short road trips to UMBC (Oct. 25 at 4 p.m.), Delaware (Jan. 19 at 1 p.m.) and Loyola (Jan. 23 at 5 p.m.).
 
The CAA Championships will be held on Feb. 20-23 at the Christianburg Aquatic Center in Christianburg, Va. The men's and women's national championship meet will be held the University of Texas. The women's championships are Mar. 20-23 and the men's championships are Mar. 27-30.
 
"The men's team will be successful this year if they can build off of a great first month," Shrum said. "While we are a little thin in certain events, we have a solid top two or three people in most events. Our newcomers will play a big role as well with Freshmen Ryan Baldino, Evan Lynch and Transfer Kenny Afolabi-Brown all expected to make immediate impacts in our dual meets. Developing third events for everyone will also be key to having a successful CAA Championship meet. We are way ahead of where we were as a team at this time last year. They have been fantastic this season."