"We got in some great training over Interterm, and I think most of our swimmers have developed a really strong base to taper from," Coach Nick Nichols said.
The men's strong training base is certainly matched by the strength of their winning record, which continued when the Jeffs soundly defeated Springfield on Dec. 18 by a score of 132-104.
The men faced a much greater challenge on Jan. 8 when they traveled to Southern Connecticut College. Though they captured only six victories in total, the men accumulated enough points to win the competition by a margin of five points. For the second straight meet, the 400 medley relay team of Rob Winograd '02, Mike Pohorylo '04, Chris Morton '02 and Pat Kennedy '03 started off the meet with an impressive victory. Winograd took first in the 200 and 500 free and Ben Hopkins '03 followed suit with victories on both the one- and three-meter boards.
Heading into the 200 breaststroke, the men knew they had to get first to win the meet and place at least second in the 400 freestyle relay that would follow. Breaststroker Pohorylo pulled through for the men in 2:08.01, his fastest in-season time to date, soundly defeating Southern Connecticut's Sean Raffile by more than two seconds.
"Pohorylo really sucked it up and gave it his all," Nichols said. "It was an impressive swim."
Though their next meet against Williams also ended with a five point margin, it was the Purple Cows who captured victory on Jan. 12 in the Jeffs' pool. "There were a lot of close races in that meet," Nichols said. "Some went our way, some went theirs. But, as I told the team before we swam, 'Whether we win or lose, we're going to Puerto Rico tomorrow.'"
The men then headed to San Juan, Puerto Rico for a week of swimming. The training trip was quite an improvement over last year's trip to Sarasota, Fla., where the men faced literally frosty conditions and below-30-degree weather. Down south, the Jeffs swam double workouts most days in an outdoor, 50-meter pool at the University of Puerto Rico.
Though spirits were somewhat low upon returning to Amherst weather conditions, the men rallied for another victory last Thursday against Hamilton College, finishing with a score of 127-108. Winograd, Pohorylo, Morton and Charles Clinton '05 started off with a win in the 400 medley relay and Steve Shapiro '04 and Jeff Sunderland '03 1-2'ed the 1,000 freestyle that followed. Morton and Nick Federico '05 swept first and second in the 200 fly and Winograd captured first in the 200 backstroke. Pohorylo pulled through as usual in the 200 breaststroke with a first place finish, as did Hopkins on the one-meter board.
The Jeffs swim their last home meet this Saturday against Hartwick and will swim at Colby College on Feb. 9 before they begin the postseason with the NESCAC championships that take place March 1-3.