Their first and toughest competition was against Williams College on Jan. 7 at Pratt Pool. The Jeffs fought hard, but were able to come up with only two wins out of the 13 events. Senior tri-captain Rick Estacio beat Ephs junior Dave McManic by a half-second in the 200-yard backstroke event to register the Jeffs first win of the month. In the final event of the day, the 400-yard freestyle relay team of Estacio, Ed Hagerty '07, Joe Scala '09 and Christian Witzke '09 beat out all Williams competition for the final first-place finish of the meet. First-year Chris Resler also tied Williams first-year Norman Scott for first in a fast 50-yard freestyle sprint. Despite their hard training, the Jeffs ended the day with an 84-159 loss, their first of the season.
"Williams was a tough meet because our team has been plagued by injuries and illness," said Estacio. "But after that, we managed to come together as a team and make up for our losses with great performances by other team members in order to win three consecutive meets."
Their winning streak began after a grueling training trip in Puerto Rico, when Amherst traveled to Clinton, N.Y. to face Hamilton College. In a strong rebound from the Williams meet, the Jeffs registered wins in eight of the 13 events. The relay team of John Ancona '07, Hagerty, C.J. Holmes '09 and Resler started the meet off with a solid win in the 400-yard medley relay.
The Jeffs also finished strong in the 400-yard individual medley, with Hagerty, Alec Goldfield '09 and tri-captain Tommy Gonnella '06 taking first, second and third place, respectively. Sophomore Derek Prill, Gonnella and first-year Dan Peterson also registered the top three times in the 200-yard breaststroke, respectively. Estacio, the team's veteran backstroker, flipped his body-and events-and won both the 200-and 100-yard freestyle races. The meet ended 120-103 in favor of the Jeffs.
On Jan. 25, Amherst traveled to Union College in New York where they once again dominated the competition. The Jeffs came in first in every event.
One of the most notable performances of the day came in the 200-yard freestyle race, in which Resler, tri-captain Adam Lewkowitz '06, Dan McCune '09 and Witzke finish first, second, third and fourth, respectively. Hagerty and Holmes also took first and second in the 1,000-yard freestyle, respectively, while Scala and Adam Kaplan '07 did the same in the 50-yard freestyle, and Ancona and Prill in the 100-yard breaststroke.
Sophomore diver Connor Boyd also stepped up his performance and tied Steve Cohen of Union on the 1-meter board with 251.85 points, and then beat out all his competitors to win the 3-meter diving event by more than 13 points. The Jeffs finished the day with an easy win 174.5-66.5 over the Bulldogs.
On Saturday, Amherst traveled to MIT to compete against Connecticut College and the host Engineers in its final away dual meet of the season. Of sixteen events, the Jeffs won seven in a tight race for a win against the Engineers.
Estacio registered the Jeffs' first win of the day in the 100-yard backstroke and followed that with another first-place finish in the 200-yard backstroke later that afternoon. Junior Ethan Treat and Holmes contributed first-and second-place finishes, respectively, in the 200-yard butterfly. In a close race, Treat finished strong in second place in the 500-yard freestyle 0.02 seconds behind Lewkowitz. Treat also earned the team second-place points when he finished just behind Hagerty in the 200-yard individual medley.
Amherst was solid on the diving boards, with Boyd securing two wins in both the one-meter and three-meter competitions. Sophomore Adam Bookman also stepped up to register a deserved second place on the three-meter board.
Though the Jeffs had already secured their win against the Camels, they only cinched their win against the Engineers with the 200-yard medley relay, the final event of the day. The team of Estacio, Kaplan, Resler and Scala finished in a solid second, with the squad of Maslan, McCune, Prill and Witzke in a close third, earning Amherst enough points for their seventh victory of the season. Concluded with an easy 227-59 Jeff win over the Camels, and a tight but well-deserved 156-142 win over the Engineers.
Lewkowitz is confident of the team's potential heading into the final stretch of the season. "We are getting faster each meet and seem ready to swim incredibly fast after some rest," he said.
"Our season has been successful thus far, and because of the great training we've had this month, we're going to finish the season strong," added Gonnella.
Amherst returns to Pratt Pool on Saturday to face Springfield College at 1 p.m. for their final dual meet of the season.
NESCAC Notes
Williams College-the 2005 NESCAC champions-remained undefeated on the season after improving their record to 7-0 on Saturday by ending Middlebury College's (5-4) four-meet winning streak. Powerhouses Will Cunningham '06 and Norman Scott '09 each won two events for the Ephs. The Panthers fell to the Jeffs in December, but took second-place last season at the 2005 NESCAC Championships, nearly 100 points ahead of the Jeffs.