The story of this competition was Williams, who by far proved they are the class of the NESCAC after defeating Middlebury College, with Amherst following a close third. Williams set the tone early with a win in the 200y freestyle relay. The Jeffs started slowly, finishing fourth in the event.
"Williams has always been really good. And we knew [Middlebury] had a good team. We just hoped to swim the best we could," said Morgan Bayer '03. "We don't have as big a team as they do and that's part of it. The team performed really beautifully."
"We knew Williams and Middlebury were going to be good. We didn't know if we could beat Middlebury because their numbers are far greater than ours," added Ali Abate '04.
The Amherst swimmers started to gain momentum in the 50y butterfly on Thursday when Tiffany Johnston '01 finished second. Williams sophomore Zibby Stokes won the event. Two events later Jeff Stacie Botsford '01 finished second in the 50y backstroke. She continued with another second in the 100y backstroke the second day. Middlebury freshman Lizzy DeWitt won both the events.
The first day concluded with a string of third place finishes. Abate finished third in the women's 200y individual medley, which Williams swimmer Meredith Olson won. Jeff Co-captain Hillary Jones '01 finished third in the 50y freestyle, which was won by Middlebury sophomore Alyson Lipsky. In the 400y medley relay Amherst finished third behind Williams and Middlebury.
The Jeffs had a far better day the second day, starting with a second-place finish in the 200y IM relay, which was won, by the Ephs. Bayer finished third in the next event, the 400y IM, won by another Williams freshman, Meredith Olson. Allison Martin '02 went on to take another third place in the 100y breaststroke, won by Bates College sophomore Megan Ferrari. Martin went on to finish fourth the final day in the 100y IM, won by Middlebury freshman Martha Goebel.
The final event of the second day was the 800y freestyle relay, won by Williams. Amherst finished second and Middlebury finished third.
On the third day Abate added to her third place performance in the IM with another third in the 200y backstroke. Dewitt finished first in the event. In the 100y freestyle two Jeffs finished in the top ten with Jones finishing second, and Ashley Simonsen '04 finishing fifth.
Sarah Malmfeldt '02 brought Amherst its first victory with her win in the 200y breaststroke. Bayer, who currently holds the NESCAC record in the 200y butterfly, did not relinquish her grip on the event, winning it for the second straight year. Simonsen finished second in the butterfly, and Jaime Fisher '04 finished fifth.
"I was hoping to win the [200y butterfly] but you never know-someone might slip in and beat you," said Bayer.
Amherst fared respectably in the diving events. In the 1m diving event, won by Williams swimmer Caroline Crocker, Cathy Poor '02 finished fourth with a score of 350.10, and Co-captain Amanda Muir '01 finished seventh with a score of 325.05. In the 3m diving event Muir finished ahead of Poor; Crocker won the event.
The final event, the 400y freestyle relay, was indicative of the meet as a whole. The Williams team won the event and the Amherst team finished second.
If Williams was the story of the NESCACs, then certainly a subplot in this tournament was the emergence of the younger swimmers: Williams' freshman and sophomore swimmers took first in almost every event. With their younger group, the Ephs look to be formidable again next year. But the strong performances of several young Amherst swimmers bode well for future contests with the Ephs.
Ten swimmers and two divers have attained "B cuts," and may now proceed to the NCAA Division III championships. Bayer, who has an "A cut," has made it for certain.