BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh men’s swimming and diving team was unable to hold an early lead as visiting Drexel won a number of close races down the stretch to defeat the Mountain Hawks 173-123 in their final regular season dual Saturday at Jacobs Pool. The Mountain Hawks won four of 16 events, including both relays, but with the loss finish the dual season at 3-4.
Junior Chris Hoke and sophomore Danny Bennett posted individual wins to pace the Mountain Hawks. Hoke had a hand in three of 
Lehigh’s four event wins against the 9-2 Dragons. Individually he won the 50 yard freestyle with a time of 20.87. Senior Demetri Karedis, one of nine Lehigh seniors competing in their final home meet, finished second to Hoke in the 50. Bennett led a 1-2 Lehigh finish in the 1000 free with a time of 9:54.25. Sophomore Jake Greene finished second behind Bennett in the event.
In the opening 200 medley relay, Hoke and Karedis teamed with sophomore Martin Kendig and freshman Jacob Hassel to win in 1:33.41, while in the final event of the meet, Hoke and Karedis combined with senior Frank Cuzzola and junior Matt Chrzanowski to take the 400 free relay in 3:07.18.
Among the close calls for the Mountain Hawks was the 200 yard butterfly, where Hassel finished second, two-tenths of a second behind the Dragons’ Mike Krohn and the 100 yard freestyle where Cuzzola was out-touched by .32 seconds. Hoke was denied a second individual win by .11 seconds in the 100 yard fly.
On the diving boards, sophomore Dan Bateman finished third in both the one and three meter events.
“We swam fast again today, but Drexel just kept touching us out,” said Lehigh head coach Rob Herb. “We were frustrated today but we did not quit. We pushed hard every race and are now looking forward to Patriots in a few weeks.”
The Mountain Hawks will now shift focus to the Patriot League Championships, February 21-23 at Bucknell’s Kinney Natatorium.