On the men’s side, the score was as close as it was largely due to the efforts of junior Alex Fraser. Fraser won the 200-free with a time of 1:45.53 and got second in the 100-free with a 47.73 time. He also swam in the 400-free relay in which Amherst edged MIT by 0.41 seconds. Bart Federak ’12 won the 200-breast with a time of 2:12.59.
Sophomore Ryan Lichtenfels also contributed to the Jeffs’ effort in the long distance events. He took the 1,000-free with a time of 9:38.26, and then led a sweep of the 500 free along with Sheng Hu ’13 and Ryan Colby ’11, posting a time of 4:41.96.
Despite the loss, Amherst found some positivity in its diving team. Sophomore Gavin Front posted a season-best 163.20 taking the one-meter event with teammate Jareb Gleckel ’12 taking second. “Gavin and I started off the season with absolutely no experience and got one-two in the one-meter in the second-to-last dual meet of the year, so that’s exciting. It was one of the biggest diving competitions we’ve had all year,” said Gleckel.
The women fared better against their MIT counterparts, leading the Engineers the whole time on the way to handing them their first loss of the season. Kendra Stern ’11 contributed hugely to the success the Jeffs enjoyed against the Engineers. Besides anchoring the 200-medley relay, she won the 200-free with an automatic NCAA-qualifying time of 1:49.82 and the 100 free with a season-best and NCAA A-cut time of 51.32. In the final individual race of the meet, Stern edged out a win by 0.65 seconds to clinch the win for the Jeffs.
Rounding out the success that Amherst experienced on the boards was Meggie Meisenger ’11. Meisenger won both the one- and three- meter events, with 257.30 and 254.65, respectively. Fellow diver Gleckel lauded Meisenger’s efforts and contributions. “She’s looking promising after qualifying for nationals,” said Gleckel. “Meggy is a great prospect for nationals this year, one of the top divers in the East.”