Men wage water war on Williams

Author: Allison Ortega

Over Winter Carnival weekend, the men's Middlebury swimming and diving team headed to Bowdoin's Leroy Greason Pool for the grueling three-day NESCAC Championships. Waiting there was the four-time defending champion Williams, who had provided the lone blemish on Middlebury's otherwise perfect season.

On the first day of competition, the Ephs were eager to add yet another trophy to their mantel, as they grabbed both relay events and added two individual titles. Not to be outdone, Coach Peter Solomon's squad swam strongly too.

Captain Tim Lux '07 placed second in the 50-yard breaststroke and fellow captain Rob Collier '07 brought home his first of three individual NESCAC crowns in the 200-yard individual relay. Lux and Collier then teamed up with Zach Woods '09 and Schuyler Beeman '10 to finish second in the 400-yard medley relay.

Brooks Farrar '10 provided additional excitement as he upset pre-tournament favorite Connor Boyd of Amherst in the one-meter diving competition. "I concentrated on what I was doing and not on what my competitors were doing," he said after his victory. "I wasn't going to let myself get intimidated by someone else's performance."

In the team competition, however, the Ephs built a substantial lead. On day two of competition, Collier started his day in the 200 medley relay, joining with Woods, Beeman and Peter Bell '08 for a second-place finish. Then in the 100-yard butterfly, Collier won his second individual title with a time of 49:85, which set new school and NESCAC records.

Woods started the final day with a second place finish in the 200-yard backstroke. Collier followed with another record-setting swim in the 200-yard fly. His 1:50.39 time again set school and NESCAC records.

Meanwhile, Farrar completed his sweep in the NESCAC diving events and claimed victory in the three-meter competition. For Farrar the triumph was particularly rewarding, because he has battled injury all season. "I've had a rough season with my left shoulder injury - I'm getting surgery done on it over spring break - but I knew I had gotten to the finals of NESCACs because I worked hard all season and deserved to be there," he said.

Collier then capped off his extraordinary weekend in the meet's final event by teaming with Beeman, Kevin O'Rourke '10 and John Rayburn '06.5 for a second-place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay.

Despite Collier's incredible efforts, the Panthers were unable to catch the Ephs, who claimed their fifth straight NESCAC championship victory.

"Although the team was short in numbers this year, we still had many amazing performances by everyone on the team, which let other teams know we will be a force to reckon with in the near future," said Farrar.