Men’s and women’s Swimming and Diving started their 2014-2015 season last Saturday, Nov. 15 by traveling to New London, Conn. to take on Connecticut College in a dual meet. Both teams fell to the Camels, the women losing 153-127 and the men falling short with a score of 172-90. Despite Middlebury’s losses as a team, many athletes still had impressive results in the meet.
“Conn is really good,” Andy Lee ’15 said. “We did much better this time around than we’ve done in this meet in the past. This was by far our best performance against [Connecticut College].”
The men dominated the long distance arena, with Michael McGean ’17 going a 10:03.03 in the 1000 yard free to secure a first-place finish, helping Middlebury outscore Conn. College in the event 14-5. Andrew Rosenthal ’16’s second place finish and Eric Stanton ’17’s fifth place finish also contributed.
A few events later, first-year Matthew Lantin ’18 won the first event of his college career, clocking a 1:46.09 in the 200 free. Lantin’s score combined with with the third and fourth place scores of Connor McCormick ’18 and Andy Grant ’17 allowed Middlebury to edge Conn. College in this event as well.
The Panthers swept the 100 breaststroke on both the men’s and women’s side, with first-place finishes by Stephan Koenigsberger ’16 (58.67) and Jamie Hillas ’15 (1:06.17). Lydia Carpenter ’15 and Christina Denbow ’16 earned additional points on the 100 breast with their fourth and fifth place finishes.
As sprinter Bryan Cheuk ’16 won the 50 free with a time of 22:12, and Lantin collected another win in the 500 free (4:45.80), the men’s team continued to shine.
On the women’s side, Hillas registered two more victories in the 100 fly (59.19) and the 200 individual medley (2:12.90). To cap off the meet, Morgan Burke ’17, Megan Griffin ’16, Ann Carpenter ’15 and Courtney Haron ’15 were able to edge out the competition in the 200 free relay (1:41.69).
Elissa DeNunzio ’18, Middlebury’s only diver entered in the meet, contributed 18 points total for her performances in the 1-meter and 3-meter dives, faring particularly well in her first competition on the 3-meter board. Coach Kimi Schmidt looks forward to helping both DeNunzio and Stephanie Andrews ’18, who will be participating in future meets, realize their potential this season.
Head Coach Bob Rueppel said, “I was very “happy with the weekend. Out of the water the team dynamics were great, and I was very pleased with what we did in the pool” despite the losses. Rueppel emphasized that although dual meets are important, “our dual meet record doesn’t necessarily gauge what’s going to happen at the end of the year.” He is “excited about where we are as a team,” and remains “very optimistic as to where we can take this by NESCAC’s.”
The team members share Rueppel’s optimism. Lee noted, “This is the best shape we’ve been in as a team at this point in the season.” This is partly due to the successful and well-attended preseason training sessions. “The intensity and yardage were definitely better than they’ve been in my time at Middlebury,” Lee said. “Every year we seem to step it up a bit.”
Lee also mentioned the first-years as a valuable new asset to the team. “[They] are a big class and they’re very fast. They’re also great with the team and have been doing well in workouts, which is always good to see.”
Panther swimming and diving will return to the pool on Saturday, Nov. 22 at 2:00 p.m. at the Middlebury Natatorium to face Tufts and Keene State in a tri-match meet as they continue to build upon last weekend’s start to their season.
