Men's swimming and diving finishes sixth

Author: Molly West

The Middlebury men's swimming and diving team took sixth place with 781 points at this past weekend's NESCAC Championship at Wesleyan University. Williams, Tufts and Amherst finished in 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively.

Support from many Middlebury swimming alumni and family members of the swimmers and divers increased the excitement of the entire meet.

Although the competition was intense, the friendly NESCAC aura resonated throughout the weekend, and was highlighted when the teams and spectators danced a little jig to Andy Collins' '12 bagpipes on Sunday evening prior to the finals.

The men's team members were entirely supportive of one another and truly made the season a genuine team experience.

Kevin O'Rourke '09 mentioned that "the guys rallied around each other and we had almost every single guy accomplish lifetime bests."

The swimming competition this year was unusually tough, but Middlebury grasped hold of the challenge and many individuals broke school, pool and personal records.

Kevin Glatt '11 impressively dropped seconds off of his 100- and 200-yard butterfly time. Senior Zach Woods placed 3rd in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 151.32, setting a school record which qualified him for the NCAA Championship meet in a couple of weeks. But he did not stop competing there. He also stole 8th place in the 50-yard backstroke, and fifth place in the 100-yard backstroke.

Two rookie swimmers, Nick Daly '12 and Andy Collins '12 both had particularly strong performances. Daly "had an incredible night swim in his 100 free," according to O'Rourke, and Collins swam a lifetime best in his 1650-yard freestyle, dropping 50 seconds off his time.

The relay teams competed particularly well. The 400-yard medley relay team, comprised of Woods, O'Rourke, Matt Vukich '11 and Schuyler Beeman '10, finished in fifth place with a time of 3:25.54. The 200-yard freestyle relay team, comprised of Beeman , O'Rourke, Jay Li '11 and Nick Daly '12, erased a 10-year-old school record by more than half a second.

The same swimmers also competed in the 400-yard freestyle relay, which had a jaw-dropping result. The relay team entered the meet seeded in fifth place with a time of 3:16 and managed to surprise everyone in the pool by dropping 12 seconds and seizing second place.

Beeman also recorded an impressive individual accomplishment, as he swam into fifth place in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 20.74.

O'Rourke had an incredible individual performance in his 200-yard freestyle, finishing in second place with a time of 1:38.22 in the preliminary race. He broke a 13-year-old NESCAC conference record, as well as the meet and Wesleyan pool record, and currently holds the fourth fastest time in the country for the 200-yard freestyle event. O'Rourke also took fifth place in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:31.36, breaking the school-best time. His striking performance continued as he swam into second place in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 45.30.

From here, as the few NCAA qualifiers continue to train in anticipation of the championship meet happening March 17-21, the rest of the team will recover from the strenuous season.