Swimmers Floating Above the Competition Like Metamucil

Author: David Freedman

Heading into the final stretch of the season the Middlebury men's and women's swimming and diving teams look ready to make a strong showing at the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Championships at the end of February. The women's team garnered momentum for its final two outings before postseason competition with two strong wins over Hamilton and Union Colleges. The men, meanwhile, impressed fans by coming back from a disappointing 96-135 loss to Hamilton by easily defeating Union's swimmers, 168-126.

In the month of January the women's side has started to win with more than just first place finishes; with their record now standing at 6-1, the whole team has begun to put up points on their way to earning big wins. Lizzy Dewitt '04, Kellianne Egan '04, Alyson Lipsky '03 and McKenna Moreau '06 have consistently won or contributed to wins in relays all year long. As the whole team has improved, there are many more clean sweeps of the top places like Egan, Sarah Groff '04, Colleen Reynolds '06 and Emily Egan's '06 performances in the 500-yard freestyle against a good Hamilton squad.

Teague Douglas '06, Lily Knopman '06 and Kate Miller '05 have all stood out as huge contributors since the December break, but they have been well supported by the entire Panthers squad. With so many different women swimmers putting up serious points, it is becoming increasingly difficult to identify the team's most dangerous weapons. This was more evident than ever during these past two week's defeats over Union and Hamilton.

The youth of the men's side has proven to be both a strength and weakness to Panther swimming. With a solid 4-3 record, the men have lost to teams with plenty of experience and depth. The victories of some of the younger Middlebury swimmers has somewhat overshadowed the consistently strong showings by many of the team's veterans.

Captain Andrew Sterling '03, Matt Clark '04, David Hawkins '05 and Jason Korsmeyer '05 all came off at least one individual victory in the past two weeks and finished in the top three places eight more times all together. Freshman Alex Demas '06, who recently won the 100 and 50 yard breaststroke events and earned second in the 400-yard individual medley and Rob Hillas '06, have been two of the faster rookies this season.

The swimming and diving teams meet Williams on Feb. 1 and will wrap up regular-season competition the following weekend in the Middlebury Invitational on Feb. 8.