Numerous swimmers and divers finished with team records and personal best times as well as national B-level consideration times. Despite a strong performance by Amherst, host Williams College took the gold medal with a score of 1624.5 points; Amherst finished with 1551.0.
The Jeffs entered the championships aiming for a victory despite carrying a roster with two fewer competitors than the other NESCAC teams. "The structure of the meet is more geared to larger teams," said Mike Pohorylo '04. However, despite losing to the hated Ephs, the Jeffs are satisfied with their individual and team performances.
"This is the best finish we've had in five years. Despite coming up short in the end, we're all pleased with it," said Pohorylo.
Senior co-captain Ben Hopkins earned his share of personal accolades to finish off an impressive four years of NESCAC competition. Hopkins came away with a first- place finish in the 3-meter diving competition as well as fourth place in the 1-meter event. He also was named Diver of the Meet and took home an award for most points accumulated over four seasons. In addition to Hopkins' personal success, diving coach Mandy Hixon was awarded NESCAC Diving Coach of the Year honors.
However, Hopkins was not the only Jeff to come away with an abundance of successes. Amherst's 200-yard freestyle relay team of Bryan Woo '06, Chuck Clinton '05, Dan Morash '04 and senior co-captain Pat Kennedy began the meet in style on Friday, Feb. 28 with a third-place finish and a national B-cut time.
Kennedy's triumphs continued into the second event as he swam to NESCAC meet and pool records in the 50-yard breaststroke with a time of 26.36 in the preliminary round before winning the finals to come in first. Morash finished fourth in the same event to earn points for the Jeffs.
The solid performances continued into the evening. Woo finished fourth in the 50-yard butterfly, followed by fourth- and fifth-place finishes in the 500-yard freestyle event by Steve Shapiro '04 and Jeff Sunderland '03, respectively. First-years Adam Lewkowitz and Dan Savage also earned points in that event with seventh- and eighth-place finishes.
Rick Estacio '06 continued the trend of record-breaking first place finishes with a time of 23.72 seconds in the preliminary round of the 50-yard backstroke, another NESCAC meet, pool and school record. Estacio finished first and teammate Russell Lang '03 came in fourth to score points for Amherst.
In the sixth event of the evening, the 200-yard individual medley, Pohorylo came in second and Ed Hagerty '06 came in fourth to keep the Jeffs near the top of the standings.
The still-undefeated 400-yard medley relay team of Estacio, Pohorylo, Woo and Clinton closed out the night with Amherst's first national A qualification time, winning the event in 3:24.67. The 400-yard freestyle relay team also had a good race, finishing fourth.
The Jeffs kicked off Saturday's competition in similar fashion, winning the 200-yard medley relay with a national B-cut time. Anchor Kennedy out-touched Middlebury's last swimmer by one-tenth of a second, following strong legs by Estacio, Pohorylo and Woo. Lewkowitz and Shapiro followed up the win with second- and third-place finishes in the 1000-yard freestyle.
Hagerty finished second in the 400-yard individual medley with a national B-cut time. Classmate Tom Gonnella '06 finished fourth in the event, narrowly missing the national B-cut but still earning points for Amherst. Woo followed with another second place national B-cut in the 100-yard butterfly, his third national B-cut time of the first two days of competition. The excellent performances by the class of 2006 continued when Savage took seventh as the top Jeff finisher in the 200-yard freestyle.
The next event saw one of Amherst's most dominating performances of the meet as Pohorylo and Kennedy finished one-two in the 100-yard breastroke each with two national B-cut times. Estacio followed the duo with an outstanding national A-cut performance in the 100-yard backstroke. Lang finished fourth with a national B-cut time as well. In the final event of the day, the 800-yard freestyle relay team of Sunderland, Pohorylo, Clinton and Hagerty finished fourth to help keep Amherst near the top of the standings.
Shapiro and Lewkowitz began the final day of competition strong with national B-cut times and third- and fourth-place finishes in the 1650-yard freestyle race. In addition, in his first time competing in the event, Grant Mandsager '04 finished 14th to help the team earn key points. Estacio followed with a second place, national A qualifying time in the 200-yard backstroke to add to his cache of stellar performances. His time of 1:52.35 set a school record. Hagerty and Lang followed Estacio in fourth and fifth place, respectively, with national B-cut times.
The Pohorylo-Kennedy tandem finished first and third, respectively, in the 200-yard breastroke, both with national B-cut times. Pohorylo set meet and pool records with his time of 2:04.91.
Gonnella finished seventh in the event, just ahead of a Williams swimmer, to tally valuable points for Amherst. He was seeded eighth going into the finals and outperformed expectations with his seventh-place finish. "Performances like [Gonnella's]," said Pohorylo, "made the difference" in the meet.
Woo followed up this performance with his fourth national consideration time of the meet and a victory in the 200-yard butterfly. Morash and Clinton rounded out exceptional Jeff individual races with third- and fifth-place finishes in the 100-yard individual medley.
The NCAA Div. III national championships will be held in Atlanta, Ga. from March 20 to 22. Those swimmers with national A-cut times automatically gain berths in the NCAA championships while those with B consideration times may go to the championships, depending on the individual times from other swimmers and divers around the country. Amherst has high expectations for nationals, where they finished 11th in 2002.
"We have every intention of beating Williams and putting them back in their place," said Hopkins.
"I think we can crack the top 10," added Pohorylo.