WATERVILLE, Maine – The Williams Ephs won six individual events and four of the five relays to total 1989.5 points to win the NESCAC Men’s Swimming & Diving Championship for the fifth consecutive year and 21st time in program history.
Overall, in the championship meet, 12 NESCAC meet records were set and eight new NESCAC marks were established over the four-day event hosted by Colby College.
Tufts University finished as the NESCAC Runners-Up for the fifth year in a row with 1730.5 points. Amherst placed third (1065.5 pts), Bates was fourth (957.5 pts), and host Colby College finished fifth (878.5 pts).
1650 Freestyle
The 1650 freestyle was the first event of the final evening session. Williams junior Carter Anderson set a new meet and pool record with a time of 15:22.93 to win the event and complete the sweep of the long-distance freestyle events. Tufts’ Rafae Shafi (15:27.77) was the runner-up and Mark Gregory of Bates finished third (15:42.22).
200 Backstroke
Eric Lundgren of Tufts posted a pool-record time of 1:45.05 to win the NESCAC title in the 200 backstroke. Middlebury’s Sam Hughes (1:47.79) followed in second place and Williams’ Gabriel Lee (1:48.14) rounded out the top three finishers.
100 Freestyle
Hamilton’s Nathaniel Taft won his second NESCAC title of the championships with a first-place finish in the 100 freestyle. He beat the field with a time of 43.71. Max Cory of Bates was second (44.07) and Peter LaBarge of Tufts finished third (44.35).
200 Breaststroke
Williams senior Jacob Grover won the 200 breaststroke with a time of 1:58.16. Bowdoin’s Alexandre Grand’Pierre touched the wall in second place (1:58.40) and Jack Nussbaum of Tufts placed third (1:59.72).
200 Butterfly
Conn. College’s Justin Finkel won his third NESCAC title of the weekend with a meet and pool-record performance in the 200 butterfly. Finkel’s time of 1:44.62 beat out runner-up Ethan Schrier of Tufts (1:47.94). Ryan Nunez of Williams was the third-fastest swimmer at 1:48.65.
400 Freestyle Relay
In the final event of the championship, the Tufts Jumbos ruined the Ephs bid to sweep the relay events. The foursome of Peter LaBarge, Soeren Euvrard, Will Stearns, and Armaan Sikka closed the meet with a NESCAC, meet, and pool record time of 2:56.43 to win the event. The Bates relay of John Weigel, Max Cory, Nate Pierce, and Mark Gregory finished second (2:58.55) while the Eph squad of Theo Randall, Oliver Schalet, Gabriel Lee, and Ev Nichol placed third (2:58.93).
Following the conclusion of the meet, the individual awards were announced:
NESCAC Swimmer of the Year: Justin Finkel, Conn. College
NESCAC Diver of the Year: Jay Wilkinson, Tufts
NESCAC Rookie of the Year: Nathaniel Taft, Hamilton
NESCAC Career High-Point Swimmer Award: Jacob Grover, Williams
NESCAC Career High-Point Diver Award: Tate Weltzin, Colby
NESCAC Swimming Coaching Staff of the Year: Williams (Steve Kuster, Allie Clark, James Singewald)
NESCAC Diving Co-Coach of the Year: Bradley Schott, Middlebury & Brad Snodgrass/Michael Salmon, Tufts
