Wrapping up the dual meet season, The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams each won handily Saturday at Springfield College 173-125 and 172-126, respectively. Both teams have at least two weeks without competitions before the NESCAC Championships, with the women beginning their quest for a NESCAC title Feb. 20 and the men following a week later on Feb. 27.
On the swimming side, a series of strong performances had both teams hopeful of equally strong showings come championship time.
“[Senior tri-captain] Kara MacLaverty’s 400 IM gets her a great seed-time for NESCAC,” claimed Meaghan Stern ’09. “She’s the school record holder in that event, and after that swim at Springfield, I think she’s primed to break it again either at NESCACs or Nationals. Anna Haring ’10 had a great 200 fly — she went abroad which makes for a short training time this season, but that swim definitely shows how her hard work is paying off and she’s also going to have a great NESCAC meet.”
On the women’s side, Meaghan Stern took the 500 free (5:09.37) and tied in the 100 with tri-captain Erin Morrison ’09 (53.63). Sister Kendra Stern ’11 won the 200 free, while Mary Marvel ’09, Alex Lee ’09, Becca Thompson ’12 and Kendall Dacey ’10 had victories in the 50 free (25.36), the 200 back (2:11.64), the 100 back (1:00.97) and the 100 fly (1:00.84), respectively. The women swept the top three spots in three separate events: the 400 IM, the 200 fly and the 200 IM with Margaret Tato ’09 earning the 200 IM victory.
Senior tri-captain for the men Christian Witzke ’09 was also impressed with his team, who has already had a historic season after defeating Williams College for the first time in three years.
Also picking up wins for the men were Ryan Lichtenfels ’12 in the 200-yard freestyle (1:44.89) and 400 IM (4:12.75), Reid Fitzgerald ’11 in the 100 back (54.65), Alex Fraser ’11 in the 100 free (47.38) and Tad Homchick ’10 in the 100 fly (53.63). The men also picked up a 200 medley relay victory with Fitzgerald, Homchick, Ben McBratney ’12 and Witzke finishing in 1:39.75.
“Tim White ’12 had another great meet to finish his first year of dual meets with three wins including a great swim in the 500 freestyle (4:46.90),” said Witzke. “Our first-year class overall has really impressed with consistent contributions throughout the season.”
However, Saturday was a day of upsets for the Jeffs in the diving events. Defending national champion Kai Robinson ’09 got to see the other side of the fence for once as he was swept in the diving events, a first-ever occurrence for him as a Lord Jeff. The senior standout entered Saturday’s meet having won both boards at all seven dual meets this season, but Springfield’s Brian Sobel edged Robinson by 7.88 points on the 3-meter board and by 14.48 points in the 1-meter event.
Senior tri-captain Sabrina Dorman was also just beat out, coming up two points shy of the win on both boards against Springfield’s Meghan Kijanka, whose 1-meter dive score of 229.05 was just ahead of Dorman’s 227.31 and who also won on the 3-meter board 236.70 to 234.60.