Amherst’s swimming and diving team is looking forward to the season ahead. Though both the men and the women were successful last year, in the end, they could not overpower Williams College’s five-year iron-clad grip on the conference championships. Last spring, the Amherst women earned second place in the NESCAC Championships. They trailed the eventual winners, the Ephs, by only 156.5 points and marked the closest finish in championship history. The men also came in second in the conference, by 711.5 points, to Williams.
The men’s team lost strong seniors Ethan Treat, John Ancona and Adam Kaplan. Treat held the conference and championship meet records in the 400-yard individual medley and was a leader in freestyle.
However, the returning team still possesses great depth. Senior diver Connor Boyd qualified for nationals last year, and Kai Robinson will be transferring from Brown University in January. Andrew Maslan ’08 is one of the Jeffs’ fastest in freestyle and fly, while fellow senior Derek Prill excels at breaststroke. Juniors Christian Witzke and Joe Scala will round out men’s freestyle races. Mike Waskom ’09 and Darryl Weimer ’10 will compete in the backstroke while first-years Ryan Colby, Reid Fitzgerald, Alex Fraser and Walker Peterson add some new dimensions.
“We have a legitimate chance at beating the Ephs at home this year in our dual meet, and hope to extract revenge on Middlebury with whom we always swim very close,” said diver Adam Bookman ’08. “We have the talent this year to make a significant impact at Nationals.”
Tri-captain Prill added, “If we stay positive and continue to train as we have in the past two weeks, we will build an athletic base stronger than we have ever before and start off the season with a few tough wins that will get us motivated for Williams.”
The women lost three strong swimmers: Piper Petterson, a Four-Year High Point Swimmer and a leading force on the team; Margaret Ramsey, a freestyle racer; and Jasmina Cheung-Lau, who swam both freestyle and the fly.
Despite the losses, the Jeffs return with a solid and balanced team. Sabrina Dorman ’09 is a top diver in both the one-meter and three-meter. Senior Brittany Sasser was named Swimmer of the Meet at the 2007 NESCAC Championships, and she holds conference records in the 50, 100 and 200-yard backstroke. Lisa Pritchard ’08 is right at Sasser’s heels with a speedy backstroke. Freestyle has plenty of fast swimmers, including Julie Kim ’08, Mary Marvel ’09 and Meaghan Stern ’09. Sophomores Kendall Dacey and Anna Haring swim the fly, and Ellen Fitzgerald ’10 excels at breaststroke. A lengthy roster of first-years Brooke Bennett, Andrea Jensen, Erin Kennedy, Meggie Meisinger, Kendra Stern, Morgan Toy and Louisa Zuo are an infusion of new talent.
Kim expressed great expectations for the coming season. “I hope that we swim fast and have fun while doing it. In the end, if everyone feels like they have contributed to the team, I would feel justified in calling the season a success. It would also be great to have a big group of girls qualify for Nationals this year!”