Swimming and diving upends Hamilton, wins third straight

Author: Molly West

The Panther swimmers and divers continued their winning streak this weekend at Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y. Both the men's and women's teams won their third meet in a row - the men by a 151-133 score and the women by a dominating 212-88 final.

Although Middlebury felt slightly fatigued from their intense training in Florida and last weekend's back-to-back meets against Colby and Bates, the Panthers competed hard and showed no sign of weakness as they swam against the Continentals. The women easily swam by the Continentals, while the men won by a smaller margin.

Although Hamilton and Middlebury are not rivals, the Continentals had a lingering bitter taste from last year's defeat by the Panthers and were hungry for revenge. The Panthers were relentless, though, and Hamilton proved to be no match.

The women's 400-yard medley relay team, comprised of Catherine Suppan '09, Jessie Ward '11, Alyssa Ha '11 and Emily McDonald '11, swam into first place and immediately put Middlebury ahead on the scoreboard. The men's relay team also placed first, giving Middlebury the momentum throughout the rest of the meet.

The men's relay team also recorded the best time of its season, inducing heightened excitement throughout the entire team. But the meet became particularly nerve-racking for the men toward the end, when Hamilton began to rack up points in the 200-yard inter-medley, the 1-meter dive and the 100-yard butterfly.

However, the Middlebury men's success in the beginning, in conjunction with taking the 400-yard freestyle relay, proved to be enough cushion for the Panthers to finish victorious in the end.

There were many impressive individual performances on the men's side, including Mac Staben's '11, who held off incoming Hamilton swimmer Jason Brown while dropping nine seconds off his best 1000-yard freestyle of the season. Andy Collins '12 also swam a season best in his 1000-yard freestyle and Vukich achieved a season best time in his 100-yard breaststroke.

However, O'Rourke was the unquestioned MVP of the weekend, winning three individual events. His outstanding efforts have earned him this week's NESCAC Men's Swimming Performer of the week.

On the women's side, rookie swimmer Katherine Loftus '12 really stepped up, coming in first in the 200-yard free style. The women swept the 1000-yard freestyle event with Katie Soja '10 coming in first, Molly Eberhardt '11 placing second and Sarah Demers '12 following close behind to finish in third place.

Diver Meagan Collins '12 made a strong impact at the meet, taking first in both the 1- and 3-meter dives.

The Middlebury swimmers and divers came out on top in almost all the meet's events. This week the Panthers continue their training in anticipation of their next meet at Union this upcoming Saturday, Jan. 24th.