Swimming & Diving Benefits from Training Trip

Middlebury swimming and diving has been busy these past few weeks, having competed in four meets and spending the final 10 days of winter break training in Key Largo, Florida.
On Saturday, Dec. 12 the Panther men defeated Springfield 197-69, while the women suffered a close 152-148 loss to the same out-of-conference competitor. Almost a month later, the Panthers traveled to Maine for their next two NESCAC meets against Colby and Bates on Saturday, Jan. 9 and Sunday, Jan. 10, respectively. The Middlebury men’s and women’s teams beat Colby with respective scores of 200-93 and 214-77, but lost to Bates 183-111 (M) and 211-99 (W) the next day. Most recently, Middlebury’s men and women bested Union 150-88 (M) and 140-99 (W) in a non-conference meet at the Natatorium on Saturday, Jan. 16.
The weekend before finals (Dec. 12), the men swam to their first victory of the season against Springfield (197-69), managing to touch the wall first in 12 of the meet’s 14 swimming events. Will Greene ’19 also won in the three and one-meter diving competitions with scores of 240.75 and 210.9, respectively.
Brendan Leech ’19, Stephan Koenigsberger ’16, Bryan Cheuk ’16 and Paul Lagasse ’16 opened the meet with a splash, swimming a 1:37.57 in the 200 medley relay to clinch first place.
The Panther men won every individual freestyle event against Springfield. Michael McGean ’17 dominated the long-distance races, clocking a 4:45.61 and 9:43.60 to win the 500 and 1000 freestyles. Later, Jack Dowling ’19 (1:49.78) barely bested Cheuk (1:49.88) for first place in the 200 freestyle, Lagasse notched a 22.15 in the 50 free to win first with Taylor Moore ’18 just .25 seconds behind him and Jack McLaughlin ’18 (48.72) eked by Lagasse (48.78) to win the 100 free.
Though Justin Cho ’17 fell to Leech (55.11) in the 100 back by less than a second, he was still able to notch a victory in the 50 back (25.66). Koenigsberger was the only Panther to win a breaststroke event with his 27.23 performance in the 50 breast.
Alex Smith ’18 and Cheuk won the 100 and 50 fly, respectively, with times of 55.13 and 23.86. Connor McCormick ’18 also had a fast swim in the 100 fly, coming just .19 seconds behind Smith for second place.
Meanwhile, Springfield squeaked past the Middlebury women to win the meet 152-148. Nevertheless, the Lady Panthers charted seven victories and several top-three finishes during the event. Like in the men’s 200 free, Middlebury’s quartet of Isabel Wyer ’18, Liza MacCowatt ’19, Megan Griffin ’16 and Morgan Burke ’17 swam to a first place finish (1:49.96).
Wyer won both the 100 and 200 free with times of 53.75 and 1:55.61, respectively, while Griffin took the 50 free in just 25.39.
Sarah Bartholomae ’18 took the lead to win both the 50 back (28.85) and the 100 back (1:02.19), and Grace Stimson ’19 placed first in the 400 IM (4:44.23) for the first time in her Middlebury career.
The Panthers’ downfall came in the final relay of the meet, when Burke, Griffin, Stephanie Andrews ’18 and Wyer lost to Springfield in the 200 free relay by just 15 hundredths of a second.
The Panthers emerged from their rigorous winter break training schedule ready to start a weekend of NESCAC competition at Colby on Saturday, Jan. 9. Middlebury’s men and women blew the Mules out of the water with scores of 200-93 and 214-77, respectively.
Greene and Elissa DeNunzio ’18 managed to sweep the diving events on both the one and three-meter platforms, with respective scores of 232.43 and 246.37 (Greene) and 216.08 and 233.95 (DeNunzio). Sophia Allen ’19 finished in second behind DeNunzio in both events as well.
Just as in the Springfield meet, at Colby “[the teams] raced in a sprint format and had a positive outcome,” Head Coach Bob Rueppel said.
Middlebury opened the meet with men’s and women’s victories in the 200 medley relay. Leech, Pla, Dowling and Lagasse swam a 1:41.33 for the men, while the women’s lineup of Bartholomae, MacCowatt, Griffin and Wyer clocked in at 1:52.38 for first place.
In a repeat of the Springfield meet, Cheuk, Cho, Koenigsberger, Leech and McLaughlin swam to first in the 50 fly, 50 back, 50 breast, 100 back and 100 free, respectively. Cheuk also claimed the 50 free title with a time of 22.57.
Like McGean on the men’s side, Alaina Pribis ’19 won both the women’s 500 free (5:22.50) and 1000 free (11:04.17). In fact, the Middlebury women bested Colby in all freestyle races: Burke won the 200 free (1:59.76), Andrews the 100 (56.18) and Griffin the 50 (25.92).
Butterfly was a similar story, as Griffin swam to another victory in the 50 fly (27.47) and Lily Sawyer ’16 won the 100 (1:00.55). Meanwhile, Wyer claimed both the 50 and 100 back (29.19 and 1:00.29) and Stimson swam a 1:03.10 to win the 100 IM.
The Colby meet finished just as it had started, with wins in the 200 free relay by Lagasse, Leech, McLaughlin and Cheuk for the men (1:30.49), and Burke, MacCowatt, Catherine Pollack ’19 and Andrews for the women (1:43.56).
The Panthers travelled south to take on Bates on Sunday, Jan. 10. The 14th-ranked Bates women beat the Panthers 201-99, while Middlebury’s men’s team lost 183-111.
“Bates [was a] challenge [because they were] waiting for us rested, while we returned from the training trip 32 hours [before heading] to Maine. I was extremely pleased with our preparation and demeanor that day,” Rueppel said.
Middlebury finished strong in the first and longest event of the day; Andrew Rosenthal ’16 swam the almost mile-long 1650 free with a time of 17:19.52 to come in second to McGean (16:28.34). For the women, Lucy Scott ’16 clocked an 18:07.14 in the 1650 to place second.
McGean also won the 500 free in 4:50.21, and Rosenthal touched the wall 9.81 seconds later for third place.
Koenigsberger claimed the only other men’s victory in the 200 breast (2:13.20), and got second in 100 breast (1:00.98).
Koenigsberger’s was just one of the many second place finishes for the men that day; others included performances by Morgan Matsuda ’19 in the 400 IM (4:23.03), Dowling in the 200 fly (2:03.93), Connor McCormick ’18 in the 200 free (1:47.84), Leech in the 100 (54.59) and 200 back (2:01.42), and Cheuk in the 50 free (22.12).
Greene continued his winning streak on the diving end of things with a score of 221.15 on the one-meter platform and 219.55 on the three. Meanwhile, DeNunzio earned points for the women with her second and third-place scores of 202.85 on the one-meter and 208.80 on the three-meter.
On the women’s swim team, Burke and Bartholomae each placed second in the 50 free (25.30) and 100 back (1:01.86), respectively.
Burke swam to first in the 100 free with a 54.92-second time, and Wyer dominated both the 200 free (1:56.23) and 200 back (2:09.21).
Burke, Wyer, Griffin and Andrews helped close out the meet on a positive note for the Panthers, besting Bates with a 1:40.66 in the 200 free relay.
Finally, the Panther men and women bested the Union Dutchmen 150-88 and 140-99, respectively, at home this past Saturday, Jan. 16.
As usual, McGean claimed the 500 and 1000 free, while Lagasse won the 100 free (49.06) and Koenigsberger sprinted a 22.34 to win the 50 free. Cheuk, McLaughlin, Leech and Lagasse went on to lead the 400 free relay as well (3:16.93).
Rosenthal’s 200 fly clocked in at 2:00.71 to win the event, and Middlebury’s 400 medley relay team of Leech, Koenigsberger, Cheuk and Lagasse beat Union by 4.84 seconds.
Representing the women, Bartholomae, Jennifer Koide ’17, Griffin and Kristin Karpowicz ’19 opened the meet by winning the 400 medley relay in 4:07.79.
Angela Riggins ’19 and Scott earned first in the long-distance 1000 and 500 free events with respective times of 11:17.00 and 5:20.30. Caitlin Carroll ’17 and Stimson were able to win the 200 fly (2:16.19, Carroll), 400 IM (4:47.58, Stimson) and 200 breast (2:31.79, Stimson).
In the deep end of the pool, DeNunzio placed second in both the one and three-meter diving events, scoring 207.83 and 239.40, respectively. In men’s diving, Greene earned third in both events with scores of 232.13 and 245.70.
After finishing first in more than half of their contested events in the last four meets, men’s and women’s swimming and diving each have a season record of 3-4.
Moving forward, “training will be very specific,” said Rueppel, who is confident that “all will come together if [the team] competes instinctively.”
The Panthers will travel to Williams this Saturday, Jan. 23 for a dual meet against the defending NESCAC champions.