"Our team is kind of at a disadvantage because of our size, but man-for-man we really outscored the other teams," Captain Dave Wynne '01 said of the seventeen-man squad that went up against other teams with as many as 24 swimmers and divers. "We just don't have the numbers to do it."
"We had the highest points per capita of any team," Jon Malowitz '02 added.
Every Jeff on the team dropped time from his 2000-2001 season in every event, and several finished with college career personal bests. The first to do so was Malowitz in the 50y breaststroke, followed two events later by Kevin Devine '03 in the 500y freestyle who dropped 7.35 seconds from his best time. Steve Shapiro '04 dropped almost 15 seconds in the same event from his seed time with a 4:38.76 in preliminaries, finishing sixth overall and making the "B" national cut by 4.23 seconds, a time that would have been invited the last four years. Russell Lang '03 also captured his best time in the 50y backstroke at 24.80, tying for second overall. Mike Pohorylo '04 dropped about a second and a half in his 200y individual medley with a 1:56.95 in preliminaries, finishing seventh overall. Fellow freshman Dan Morash dropped eight and a half seconds in the same event, and Pat Kennedy '03 finished off college career bests on day one with a time drop in the 50y freestyle, placing fourth overall in 21.74.
On day two, Jeff Sunderland '03 dropped half a second down to a 52.87 in his 100y butterfly to finish seventh overall. Shapiro finished fourth in the 200y freestyle, dropping almost four seconds from his season time to finish in 1:44.6, and Grant Mandsager '04 also dropped almost four seconds in the same event. Pohorylo captured the men's first victory in the 100y breaststroke with a college career best of 58.07, shaving 1.27 seconds off his best in-season time and making the "B" national cut by 1.12 seconds-a time that has been invited the past four years.
"It felt really good to win the 100 breaststroke since we needed all the points we could get to try to catch up to Middlebury," Pohorylo said.
Morash also dropped significant time-three seconds-in the same event, as well as Kennedy, who came back with another personal best of 59.44 in preliminaries, finishing sixth overall. Lang cut a second from his best 100y backstroke time, down to a 53.21 in preliminaries, finishing fifth overall and just making the national "B" cut.
Lang started off Sunday's college career bests, dropping nearly three seconds in his 200y backstroke to finish third overall in 1:56.10. Kennedy shaved some time off his best 100y freestyle at the College, finishing ninth in 48.24. Mandsager dropped 1.74 seconds in the same event from his best time in season, and Devine dropped an incredible 2.28 seconds from his personal best in the same event. Pohorylo captured second overall in the 200y breaststroke, dropping a startling 5.2 seconds from his already stellar in-season time and making the national "B" cut by an incredible 4.72 seconds, a time that has been invited the past four years. Morash dropped nearly six seconds in the same event. Rob Winograd '02 flew into first place in the 200y butterfly with his best time of 1:54.17-a "B" cut national time that would have been invited the past four years-and Read Porter '01 dropped a second and a half in his 100y individual medley, capturing second place in 54.19. Shapiro got his college career best with a 16:16.74 in the 1,650y freestyle, finishing third and making the "B" national cut by 13.25 seconds, another time that would have qualified the past four years.
The Jeffs' place finishes were just as impressive as their time drops. Amherst's "A" 200y freestyle relay of Morash, Winograd, Kennedy and Porter started off the meet capturing fourth overall. In the 500y freestyle, Winograd took third, followed by Myles Ranier '01 in fourth and Shapiro in sixth. Winograd and Ranier both made national "B" cuts along with Shapiro-Winograd by 5.66 seconds and Ranier by 2.44 seconds. Both times would have been invited the past four years. Lang tied for second in the 50y backstroke, and Chris Morton '02 captured fifth in the 200y individual medley, followed by Pohorylo in seventh. Kennedy took fourth and Porter took sixth in the finals of the 50y freestyle, and Ben Hopkins '03 took fourth overall in the one meter diving. The men finished with an impressive second place finish in the 400y medley relay-the team of Lang, Pohorylo, Morton and Porter made the "B" national cut by 2.64 seconds with a time that would have made nationals last year by a second.
Day two was characterized by considerable time drops among almost all the men from preliminaries to finals. The Jeffs' 200y medley relay of Lang, Pohorylo, Morton and Porter started off finals with a second place finish, just making the "B" national cut, and Winograd took third in the next event, the 400y individual medley, also making the "B" national cut by almost six seconds, a time that would have been invited the past four years. Morton captured third in the 100y butterfly, making the national "B" cut by almost a second, a time that would have been invited the past four years. Sunderland followed Morton, finishing seventh in the same event. In the 200y freestyle Amherst men captured fourth (Shapiro) and seventh (Ranier), and after Pohorylo took first in the 100y breaststroke, Kennedy finished in sixth in the same event. Lang took fifth in the 100y back, with Winograd, Sunderland, Ranier and Shapiro taking third in the 800y freestyle relay.
Lang started off Sunday's finals with a third place finish in the 200y backstroke, and Porter took third in the 100y freestyle that followed. Pohorylo took second in the 200y breaststroke and the Jeffs captured their first Sunday victory in the 200 butterfly with Winograd in first, followed by Morton in fourth and Sunderland in seventh. Porter took second in the 100y individual medley, Hopkins finished second in the 3m diving, and the 400y freestyle relay of Morton, Kennedy, Porter and Mandsager finished off the championship meet with a third place finish.
"The last two relays were really intense since we were so close to Middlebury," Mandsager said. "All the freshman guys in the 'B' relay got their best splits."