The Amherst swimming and diving teams swept the first two meets of the season, easily defeating both Colby College and Wesleyan University to start the NESCAC season 2-0. Both teams face their first challenge of the year next Saturday against Middlebury College.
Men
The men cruised to easy wins over Colby and Wesleyan 145-118 and 127-108. Early in the season, their promise is already evident.
“The Colby and Wesleyan meets really showed the all-around strength of the men’s team this year, as we did not lose a single race in either meet,” said Tad Homchick ’10.
At Colby, nine different swimmers took first place, with tri-captain Christian Witzke ’09, Kai Robinson ’09, Homchick, Reid Fitzgerald ’11 and Alex Fraser ’11 winning two events each to head the scoring column.
The men continued their dominance two days later over Wesleyan. The meet was marked by contributions from every class, with standout performances from the underclassmen in particular.
“Almost every single person on the team had a fantastic start to the season in the first two meets,” stated Witzke. “[First-year] Bart Federak swam fantastic races in the 200 IM, the 100 breaststroke and the butterfly races, positioning himself right at the top of the conference in the first weekend, and Reid Fitzgerald swam extremely well in the backstroke events, positioning himself for big improvements in his sophomore year.”
After a strong performance to start the season, the men are ready to face the Middlebury Panthers.
“While Middlebury obviously has a lot of talent, we are very confident as we head into the meet this weekend,” claims Witzke. “While we always want to race the teams we swim, we’re confident that we can come out on top no matter how they swim as long as we focus and put up the types of swims of which we’re all capable.”
Women
The women were equally dominant in their meets, beating Colby 163-125 and Wesleyan 132-89. Looking strong so far, the women face their first real test against perennial powerhouse Middlebury, one of their biggest rivals.
The women took 15 of 16 events at Colby. Sophomore standout Kendra Stern continued right where she left off last year with wins in the 1000 and 100 freestyle, highlighting her strength at both short and long distance freestyle. Brooke Bennett ’11 also started the season strong, sweeping the butterfly events, while first-year Laura Timson made her presence known with wins in the 50 free and 200 IM.
At Wesleyan, the women swept all events en route to a rout of the Cardinals. Stern again dominated with wins in the 50 and 500 free before anchoring the winning 200-medley relay with Bennett, Ellen Fitzgerald ’10 and Becca Thompson ’12. Thompson made herself the first-year to watch with additional wins in the 200 free and 100 back in the opening weekend of her collegiate career. Tri-captain Sabrina Dorman ’09 won the 1- and 3-meter diving events, to round out the list of double winners.
“We couldn’t have been more pleased with how Colby and Wesleyan turned out,” said tri-captain Kara MacLaverty ’09. “I think both meets got us all really anxious and excited to see what the rest of the season will be like.”
However, the women face a real challenge next Saturday when they face the Panthers, who edged out the women last year to steal second place in the NESCAC Championships. Nevertheless, with the strong performances over the weekend plus the rivalry to pump up the team, MacLaverty has no doubts about her team.
“Middlebury is always a big meet for us,” stated MacLaverty. “We’ve worked really hard for several weeks now, and especially after our performances against Colby and Wesleyan, we are definitely ready to go.”