The men will soon begin tapering for the NESCAC Championships to be held from Feb. 23 to Feb. 25.
The Lord Jeffs captured wins in all 16 events, with the exception of the 100y fly, 3m diving and 200y freestyle relay. Rob Winograd '02, Russell Lang '03, and Dave Wynne '01 swept the 200y backstroke, followed by another sweep two events later in the 500y freestyle-Steve Shapiro '04 took first, followed by Myles Ranier '01 and Jeff Sunderland '03.
While Amherst's swimmers were in Hartwick, the Jeff's top male diver-Ben Hopkins '03-spent the weekend in Texas competing against Trinity University of Texas, Adam Nagorski '02 represented the Jeffs in diving against Hartwick, taking second in the 1m diving.
In Texas, Hopkins took first in both competitions, making the tentative national cut in the 3m and 1m diving competition. He missed the school record on the 3m board by less than a point.
Back in Massachusetts, the men also managed to capture first and second in two events. Read Porter '01 finished about two-tenths of a second ahead of Pat Kennedy '03 in the 50y freestyle, and Winograd touched out Pohorylo in an intense 200y individual medley by about two seconds. Winograd's race was "definitely his fastest untapered 200y IM in his past three years of swimming," according to coach Nick Nichols.
The team of Lang, Pohorylo, Chris Morton '02 and Porter captured the 200y medley relay, followed by a win in the 1,000y freestyle by Shapiro, the only Amherst competitor in the event.
Paul Tedeschi '01 went on to take the 200y freestyle, followed by a victory in the 100y backstroke by Lang, who also represented Amherst by himself. Pohorylo took the 100y breaststroke next, and Winograd captured the 200y butterfly just afterward. Porter took first in the 100y freestyle, and Pohorylo maintained his undefeated breaststroke record in the 200y breaststroke two events later.
Porter and Winograd finished the meet with three victories each while Pohorylo, Lang, and Shapiro took two each.
Up next for the Jeffs is the NESCAC championship meet, which will be held at Bowdoin College this year. Last year the Jeffs finished third in the NESCAC.
Many Jeffs are looking to repeat their success from last year at the championship meet. Winograd took the NESCAC title last year in the 500-yard freestyle and 400-yard IM and took fourth place in the 200-yard backstroke. He was one of two Jeffs who qualified for nationals last year, competing in the 500y freestyle, 200y freestyle and the 200y fly.
Hopkins took second place in the 3m diving and fifth place in the 1m diving at the meet last year. This year he has lost only once in either of the events upon entering the championships.
Morton, after suffering a separated shoulder early in the year that kept him inactive for the first portion of the Jeffs' season, came back strong in the NESCACs. He placed second in the 100y butterfly, third in the 50y butterfly and fifth in the 100y IM and was a member of the 400y medley relay team, which finished in third place.
Following the NESCAC championships, the Jeffs will send swimmers to the NCAA finals. So far this season Winograd and Hopkins have qualified-at least tentatively. Winograd made the "B" cut for nationals in the 1650y freestyle, and Hopkins awaits an invitation following a panel's review of video from two of his competitions.