The NESCAC swimming and diving season concluded Sunday with the men’s championships in which the Amherst men placed third behind runner-up Tufts University and conference champion Williams College.
The Jeffs had aa much stronger performance than their placing shows; although their depth could not compete with that of Tufts and Williams, there were plenty of strong finishes. The Jeffs led in first place finishes, winning 10 of the 24 events. Many times broke records or earned several swimmers berths on the Nationals team.
Senior Kai Robinson earned Diver of the Meet honors for the second year in a row as he took the 1-m and 3-m titles once again, comfortably qualifying for Nationals on both boards. Amherst’s diving coach, Mary Ellen Clark, earned Diving Coach of the Year honors. Sophomore Alex Fraser led Amherst with three individual wins in the 100, 200 and 500 free, with times that automatically qualify him for Nationals in each event. Rookie standout Ryan Lichtenfels took home two individual wins of his own in the 1650, which he took by nearly 14 seconds in an automatic NCAA time, and in the 400 IM, just barely missing an “A” time. First-year Bart Federak also picked up a win in the 200 IM with a “B” time.
Fraser and Lichtenfels also contributed to an 800 free relay win, teaming up with tri-captain Christian Witzke ’09 and Tim White ’12 to set a new NESCAC, meet and pool record with the win, earning a provisional NCAA time while they were at it. Finally, Fraser concluded his impressive performance by winning the final event of the meet, the 400 free relay with Tad Homchick ’10, Witzke, and Ben McBratney ’12 to set one last NESCAC, meet and pool record, just missing an automatic qualifying time for Nationals.
Witzke is pleased with the season’s results. “While there will always be ups and downs in a season, this season, highlighted by the win against Williams, was undoubtedly the most satisfying in my four years here at Amherst. Our team stepped up to every challenge along the way and forged a strong bond that means more than anything we could’ve done in the pool.”
While many individual winners qualified for Nationals, other Jeff finishers also came in to the wall within National standards. The most dominating example is the 500 free, in which the Jeffs had four swimmers — Fraser, Lichtenfels, White, and Ryan Colby ’11 — in the top eight, with three earning NCAA provisional times or better. Amherst swimmers earned “B” times or better in the 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1650 frees, the 100 and 200 backs, the 100 and 200 breasts, the 100 fly and all the relays. With so many successful swims and dives, the Jeffs will have a large contingent at Nationals on Mar. 18-21.