Swim Teams Fail to Make a Splash in First Meet

The men and women’s swimming and diving teams opened the season on Saturday, Nov. 16 hosting Tufts and Connecticut College at the Natatorium. The women topped Tufts 190-108, but narrowly lost to Connecticut 148-140. The men were defeated in each matchup, falling to Tufts 216-84 and to Connecticut 189-99.

The women got off to a fast start, winning the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:48.70. Andie Tibbetts ’14 opened with a time of 28.07 seconds in the backstroke leg and was followed by Jamie Hillas ’15 (butterfly), Megan Griffin ’16 (breaststroke), and Courtney Haron ’15 (freestyle). The Panthers’ ‘B’ relay also finished third in the race.

Tibbetts was arguably one of the team’s best performer on the day, winning the 100-yard backstroke and finishing second in the 200-yard event. She is already the school record holder in both races. Hillas won the 100-yard breaststroke and finished second in the 100-yard butterfly. Jennifer Koide ’17 burst onto the scene by winning the 200-yard breaststroke and finishing second in the 200-yard freestyle in her first collegiate meet.

Colleen Harper ’14 won the one-meter diving event for Middlebury with a score of 221.50 points. Adrianna Baker ’15 finished third in both the one and three meter events.

It was an easy victory over Tufts, and the Panthers almost edged Connecticut as well. However, they could not catch up to the Camels in the final relay.
“After two months of intensive preseason training it was exciting to finally be able to race,” Tibbetts said. “At this point in the season our focus is on general performance and attitude and this meet allowed us to showcase that. It was a great first meet and indicative of a promising rest of the season.”

After finishing third in the opening relay against Tufts, the men made up ground in the 1000-yard freestyle with Michael McGean ’17 and Andy Rosenthal ’16 capturing second and third place, respectively. After that, however, the Panthers dug themselves a hole and were never able to catch up.
Stephan Koenigsberger ’16 won the 100-yard breaststroke in a time of 1:00.20 seconds and later finished third in the 200-yard event.
Ian Mackay ’14 came in second in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 21.55 seconds. He will look to improve upon his school and NESCAC record time of 20.34 throughout the season. Mackay also finished second in the 100-yard freestyle.

Skylar Dallmeyer-Drennen ’14 and Dylan Peters ’16 finished third and fourth, respectively, in both the one and three meter diving events.
Even following the defeats, the team is still optimistic about its chances moving forward.

“Team spirit was through the roof which makes the pool an awesome place to be,” Koenigsberger said. “We all knew to keep things in perspective and were thinking about the big picture, rather than just this one meet.”

The teams will travel to rival Amherst on Saturday, Dec. 7 for their final meet before winter break.