The teams returned to campus to defeat Union College on January 2nd. On the women’s side, Union won the 50- and 200-yard freestyles, but the Jeffs took first place in the remaining fourteen events to win by a final score of 214-79.
Katie Vincett ’13 and Anna Pietrantonio ’14 won the 100- and 500-yard freestyle events. Sophomores Emily Swett and Maddy Sprung-Keiser won the 100- and 200-yard backstrokes. Senior captain Brooke Bennett won the 200 butterfly and Lulu Belak ’14 took first in the 200 breaststroke. Senior diver Meggie Meisinger swept the diving events, with first year Claire Wagner placing second in the 1-meter board and third in the 3-meter. The Jeffs won both relays, with Bennett, Sprung-Keiser, Rebecca Kelley ’12 and Allison Merz ’14 taking the 200-medley relay and Bennett, Merz, Vincett and Kendra Stern ’12 prevailing in the 200 freestyle relay.
First year Abby Hahn won two events, leading the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:08.45 and just out-touching teammate Andrea Jensen ’11 for the victory in the 200 individual medley. Senior Kendra Stern was the only other swimmer to win multiple events. She broke her second Pratt Pool record of the season in the 1,000-yard freestyle. Her 10:09.43 finish was fifty seconds ahead of the rest of the pack, and broke the previous pool record, set by a Williams swimmer in 2000, by just over nine seconds. Stern also led the 100-free with a 57.39 by a good five-second margin for an NCAA “B” cut.
Stern was equally impressive at Williams on January 8th, winning three events. Despite Stern’s strong performance, which earned her the title of NESCAC player of the week, the women’s team lost 203-97. Stern swam another pool record time, this time at Williams, in the 200-yard freestyle. Her 1:46.80 beat the fourteen-year-old record by nearly five seconds. Stern also won the 100 free and 200 individual medley. Hahn was the only other Jeff to win her event, with a 2:27.12 in the 200-yard breaststroke. The women divers also faced a challenge at Williams. Meisinger placed second on the 1-meter board and Lizzy Linsmayer ’14 placed third on the 3-meter.
The women defeated Hamilton College on Saturday by a final score of 215-85. The Jeffs finished in the top three spots in a number of races. Bennett led her teammates in both the 200 free and 200 IM. Kelley won the 50-yard breaststroke with first-years Marisa Vavruska and Hahn finishing second and third. Belak finished first in the 100-yard breaststroke, follwed by Hahn and Catherine Maguire ’13. Other first-year women also picked up first place finishes. Pietrantonio won the 1650 free, Keegan Watters led the 500-free, and Merz won the 50 fly. Stern finished first in the 100-yard freestyle and butterfly events. She was just shy of her pool record in the freestyle. The Jeffs won both the 200 freestyle and the 200 medley relays. Divers Meisinger and Linsmayer took first and third, respectively, on the 1-meter board. Linsmayer came in first on the 3-meter and Meisinger took second.
The men’s team has destroyed all of its competition this season and remains undefeated. The Jeffs gave up only one event to Union College in the 222-78 win. Senior Alex Fraser was edged out by .04 seconds in the 100 butterfly, but he was the top swimmer in the 200 free with a time of 1:43.70. Sheng Hu ’13 won both sprint freestyle events, first year Connor Beaulieu won the 500 free by a ten second margin, and Tim White ’12 bested the field in the 1000 free by 17 seconds. Beaulieu was also the winner in the 100 breaststroke with a 1:01.05.
Tyler Bulakul ’14, Daniel Schwab ’13 and Mike O’Connor ’12 won the 200-yard butterfly, backstroke, and breaststroke events, respectively. Junior Bart Federak out-touched senior co-captain Reid Fitzgerald in the 100 backstroke with a 53.81 and came in first in the 200 IM. Both relay teams were victorious, with Fitzgerald, Ben McBratney ‘12, Bulakul and Fraser in the 200 medley and Fitzgerald, McBratney, Bulakul and White in the 200 freestyle. First-year diver Colin White won on the 1-meter and 3-meter boards, with classmate Ian Stahl taking third in both events.
The men’s matchup against Williams was the team’s closest meet yet, but the Jeffs prevailed by a final score of 132-111. Colin White had the top scores on both boards again, with a 273.38 on the 1-meter and a 316.35 on the 3-meter, putting his record at 10-0. Ryan Lichtenfels was another big contributor with first-place finishes in the distance events. He narrowly beat the runner-up in the 1,000 free but won the 500 by a comfortable 4.7-second margin.
“We have been swimming incredibly well top-to-bottom, and that was key in the win over Williams. We have a corps of enormously talented swimmers at the top-end and great depth this year to complement that,” Fitzgerald said.
That depth was apparent when the Jeffs came in 1-2-3 in the 200-yard butterfly and backstroke events. Although the Ephs won many of the freestyle events, the Jeffs swam 2-3-4 in the 100 free. The relays were split at this meet, with Fitzgerald, McBratney, Bulakul, and Tim White winning the 200 medley and the Ephs taking the 400 free.
The team then headed to Florida for a training trip before walloping Hamilton 220-78. “The team trained very well in Florida over interterm, and we expect some stellar performances to come from that at the end of the year,” Fitzgerald said.
The Jeffs won every event save for the 200 free and 200 freestyle relay. McBratney and Federak won the 50- and 100-yard breaststrokes, respectively, while Aaron Reynolds ’14 and Schwab took the 50 and 100 backstroke events. Tim White hit the wall .01 seconds ahead of Hamilton’s top swimmer for the victory in the 100-free. Swimming the distance events were Hu and Lichtenfels, who won the 500- and 1650-yard freestyle races.
Bulakul dominated the butterfly with wins in the 50 and 100. Fraser won the 50 free with a 21.68 and the 200 IM with a 1:58.58. Fitzgerald and Federak took second and third behind Fraser in the IM. Fitzgerald, McBratney, Bulakul and Fraser won the 200 medley relay with a 1:35.70, just missing the mark for the pool record. Colin White put together yet another strong performance and continued his undefeated streak in the diving events.
Co-captain Fitzgerald said he has high hopes for the rest of the season. “Everyone on the roster has stepped up this year and embraced our team goal of winning the NESCAC championship. We think that we have the most talented team in the conference this year, and, since we are bringing a full roster to the meet for the first time in a few years, we hope to have the final score bear that out,” he said.
The Jeffs return to the water next Saturday against MIT in the seniors’ final meet in the Pratt Pool.