NESCAC finish: 3rd (women), 7th (men)
Women's captains: Maddy Berkman ’15, Courtney Haron ’15, Jamie Hillas ’15
Men's captains: Lucas Avidan ’15 & Teddy Kuo ’15
As the 2014-15 season begins for Middlebury Swimming and Diving, the women’s team is looking to improve upon its third-place finish in the 2014 NESCAC championships, where it came in just 9.5 points behind Amherst, as well as its 18th place finish out of 51 teams in the NCAA meet. The men’s team, coming off of a seventh-place finish in NESCACs and a 28th-place ranking out of 51 teams at the NCAA level, also has opportunity for improvement this season.
The women’s team has a 2-1 record this season, having lost to Connecticut College in the opening meet on Nov. 15, but beating both Keene State and Tufts at Middlebury’s first home meet on Nov. 22. On the other hand, the men have yet to record a victory in contests against the same teams.
Despite lukewarm performances thus far, Middlebury swimming hold lots of promise this year, with a particularly strong first-year class led by distance swimmer Matthew Lantin, who has placed in several events this season, and combined with an accomplished group of returning talent.
On the men’s side, Stephan Koenigsberger ’16, who holds three school records in the 50, 100 and 200-yard breastroke has continued to win races for the Panthers, along with Michael McGean ’17 in the 1000 free and Bryan Cheuk ’16 in the 50 free.
Women’s captains Jamie Hillas ’15, Courtney Haron ’15 and Maddy Berkman ’15 are valuable assets, with Hillas holding school records in three breastroke events, the 100 IM and the 200 medley relay. Megan Griffin ’16, the school record holder in the 50-yard fly, and freestyler Morgan Burke ’17 will also play major roles. First-year diver Elissa DeNunzio has earned points for Middlebury this season as well.
Coach Bob Rueppel said that that the team has settled into its most competitive training program since he started coaching at Middlebury. In his fourth year as head coach, he finally feels that “this is our team now. Everybody’s on the same page, and we’re doing things training-wise now that a year ago we weren’t able to do until January.”
Both teams will be tested in this coming weekend’s home meet against Amherst on Saturday, Dec. 8.
