Swimmers steamroll Union and Hamilton Pivotal meet against NESCAC rival Williams looms ahead for Panthers

Author: George Mayer

The Middlebury men's swimming and diving team has been red hot thus far this J-Term. Over the past three weekends, the Panther squad has posted wins over NESCAC rivals Hamilton, Colby and Bates, as well as Union. While Union proved to be no match for the Panthers this past weekend, posting only 88 points to Middlebury's 210, the meets on the previous two weekends were somewhat more competitive. While Bates proved to be their toughest test, the team still managed to outscore the Bobcats 146-108 on the day.

First-year Zach Woods has been a standout performer for the Panthers throughout their successful J-Term run. On Jan. 8 against Colby and Bates, Woods set four different pool records. As Peter Bell '08 states, "Zach has continued to outperform all expectations we had for him as a freshman." During last Saturday's meet against Union, Woods broke the 100 meter IM pool record, however, last year's national qualifier Rob Collier '07 broke the record by an even greater margin than Woods did. Collier has provided a great deal of flexibility and depth to the Panthers and it remains to be seen which relays he will compete in down the home stretch.

While the Panthers have been dominant the last three weekends, this coming Saturday they are set to face off against the toughest competition they will see all year in the Ephs of Williams. Bell and senior co-captain Alex Demas '06 refer to the Williams team as an "absolute powerhouse."

Both Bell and Demas believe Williams has an excellent shot at winning the NCAA National Championship this year and dethroning the Kenyon College team that has won the NCAA title the last 26 years. To compete with the Ephs, the Middlebury men know they are going to have be performing at their top level.

Knowing the amount of talent Williams has this season, the Panthers hope to repeat their second place finish at the NESCAC tournament from a year ago. In order to do so they are going to have to beat out Tufts and Amherst again. The Panther squad was able to beat Amherst both in season and at the NESCAC tournament last year, which was quite an accomplishment considering the Lord Jeffs typically post a strong team. This weekend's meet at Williams as well as the Middlebury Invite the following weekend should help to prepare the team for another solid performance at the NESCAC Championship, to be held on Feb. 24-26.