The MIT men continue to lead the 2015 New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Swimming and Diving Championship after the third day of competition at WPI’s Sports & Recreation Center Pool.
MIT (1,027) has a 325 point lead over second-place WPI (702) as U.S. Coast Guard Academy is third (581) and Springfield College is fourth (506). Wheaton College is fifth (431) while Babson College is sixth (287) and Clark University is seventh (175).
Cambridge’s Engineers took three of the six swimming titles up for grabs on Saturday night. Bo Mattix, Justin Chiu, Sean Corcoran and Jeremy Bogle ended the night with the meet and pool record in the 200-yard medley relay in a time of 1:31.33. WPI’s foursome of Alex Powers, Tim Petri, David Smallwood and Ben List followed with a 1:32.12. Dougie Kogut secured the 100-yard butterfly title with a B cut time of 49.10 as WPI’s David Smallwood was .41 seconds behind to take second. Mattix (50.43) and Brad Jokubaitis (50.76) swept the top two spots in the 100-yard backstroke.
Host WPI earned a pair of titles as Seth MacDonald won the 400-yard IM with a B cut time of 4:04.25 and Andrew Bauer took the 200-yard freestyle (1:39.88). MIT’s Jeremy Ellison was second on the 400-yard IM (4:07.45) while Scott Mayberry was the runner up in the 200-yard freestyle (1:41.32).
The 100-yard breaststroke saw an eye-popping seven B cuts, highlighted by Springfield’s Michael Normoyle (56.13) and MIT’s Justin Chiu (56.74) All-Conference performances.
Jack Lewis completed the diving sweep for the second consecutive season as he won the 3-meter with a pool-record 565.30. Coast Guard’s Andy Anderson also scored better than the previous pool standard with a 508.80.
Sunday will see the 1,650-yard freestyle, 200-yard backstroke, 100-yard freestyle, 200-yard breaststroke, 200-yard butterfly and 400-yard freestyle relay contested and a team champion crowned.
Two conference records fell while as the MIT women remained atop the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Swimming and Diving Championship leaderboard with one day of competition remaining at WPI’s Sports & Recreation Center Pool.
MIT leads the way with 871 points followed by Springfield College (559), Wellesley College (498), host WPI (474) and Wheaton College (395). U.S. Coast Guard Academy is sixth (326.5) as Mount Holyoke College is seventh (265.5). Smith College is eighth (240), Clark University is ninth (205) and Babson College is 10th (121).
Mount Holyoke’s Cathleen Pruden broke her own meet and NEWMAC record with a 4:21.83 to claim the 400-yard IM title. MIT’s Joanna Han came in second with a time of 4:28.71. Later in the session, Springfield’s Emily Medeiros bettered the 100-yard breaststroke meet and NEWMAC record with a 1:03.78 to lead a trio of student-athletes that achieved a B cut in the championship final. The battle for second and third came down to MIT teammates Amanda Wu (1:05.33) and Jessica Chen (1:05.43).
Springfield’s Christiana Greco and WPI’s Nysa Casha posted B cuts to finish 1-2 in the 100-yard butterfly with times of 56.86 and 57.31, respectively. Cambridge’s Engineers took the 200-yard freestyle, 100-yard backstroke and 200-yard medley relay. Emmie Ryan used a B cut time (1:52.74) to claim the 200 free as Wellesley’s Leah Furman was the runner up (1:53.76). Veronika Jedryka struck gold in the 100-yard backstroke (56.32) and, after a break, swam the leadoff leg of the winning 200-yard medley relay. In addition to Jedryka, Wellesley’s Dorothy Ren achieved a B cut (57.50) in the sprint.
Jessica Chen, Margaret Guo and Amanda Wu teamed with Jedryka to post a 1:45.18 to end the third day with the 200-yard medley relay title. Wellesley’s Sharon Wu, Charlotte Harris, Dorothy Ren and Hannah Augst followed with a time of 1:46.47.
The final day of competition features the 1,650-yard freestyle, 200-yard backstroke, 100-yard freestyle, 200-yard breaststroke, 200-yard butterfly, 400-yard freestyle relay and 1-meter dive.
WPI Men
Seth MacDonald (Sherill, NY) and Andrew Bauer (Cumberland, RI) both notched victories as the WPI Men’s Swimming & Diving team had its most productive day yet of the NEWMAC Championship Meet.
The tournament hosts entered Day 3 in second place with 356 points, and the Crimson and Gray added another 346 points across seven events on Saturday. The WPI men remain in second with 702 points — well behind first-place MIT (1,027), but also comfortably ahead of third-place Coast Guard, which will enter the final day with 581 points.
After opening up Day 1 with a win in the 800-yard freestyle relay, the Engineers pulled off the same thing on Day 3, as the sophomore MacDonald won the 400-yard individual medley in 4:04.25, which also met the NCAA-B standard.
Bauer, also a sophomore, glided to the win in the 200-yard freestyle (1:39.88), posting an NCAA-B cut time that would have been good enough to meet the cut-off for last year’s NCAA Division III Swimming & Diving Championships.
David Smallwood (Bangor, ME) and Bauer were both part of Thursday’s winning relay, and Smallwood just missed out on a second victory, coming in second in the 100-yard butterfly (49.51) with yet another NCAA-B standard time.
Karim Elsayed (Cairo, Egypt) (51.12) and Frederick Burgwardt (Mendon, NY) (51.15) were far behind him, finishing back-to-back in fifth and sixth place. Ben List (Bedford, MA) and Cameron Back (St. Louis, MO) also scored in the 100 fly, with the senior List finishing 12th (51.95) and Back following in 18th place (53.49).
The 100-yard breaststroke also went swimmingly for the Engineers, thanks to Tim Petri (Eksjo, Sweden) and Andrew Kelleher (Poughquag, NY), who finished third (56.98) and fourth (57.44), respectively. Both times met the NCAA-B cut.
Shane Bell (LaCanada, CA) rounded out the event for WPI with a ninth-place finish (1:01.56) in the ‘B’ final.
Alex Powers (Glocester, RI) gave the hosts another top five finish (5th) in the 100-yard backstroke, coming in at 51.78. Matt Houghton (Berkley, MA) finished third in the ‘B’ final (53.83) and Burgwardt took fourth (53.84)
The WPI men had five other swimmer score in the 400 IM, in addition to MacDonald. Adam McNally (Leominster, MA) finished sixth (4:11.79), with Nick Houghton (Berkley, MA) following in eighth place (4:12.17).
Trevor Gehring (Wildwood Crest, NJ) had the 15th-best time (4:23.16), while fellow freshman Sam Carley (Trumbull, CT) came in just behind him in sixth (4:24.30) in the ‘B’ final. Blake Cornachini (Branford, CT) came in three spots behind Carley, posting time of 4:25.28.
Nathan Hughes (Arlington, VA) grabbed seventh place in the 200 free (1:42. 96), six spots behind the winner, Bauer. Jonathan Decelle (Rumson, NJ) was fifth in the ‘B’ final, touching in 1:43.59.
The Crimson and Gray picked up another 30 points in the 3-meter dive as sophomore Matt Suarez (Needham, MA) came in sixth (401.25 points) and freshman Randy Melanson (Attleboro, MA) finished 10th overall (361.05).
The meet hosts also pocketed 60 points in the only relay event of the day, finishing second to MIT in both the ‘A’ and ‘B’ finals of the 200-yard medley relay. The team of Powers, Petri, Smallwood and list made the NCAA-B cut with the second-fastest time (1:32.12). Meanwhile, Matt Houghton, Kelleher, Burgwardt and Hughes combined to finish their race in 1:34.83 for the fifth-best time overall.
WPI Women
Nysa Casha (Andover, MA) is making the most of her final NEWMAC Championship Meet. On Saturday, the senior captain was involved in women’s swimming and diving’s two best finishes, taking second in the 100-yard butterfly and joining in on the third-place 200-yard medley relay team.
Casha helped keep the Crimson and Gray amongst the top group of competitors, as the meet hosts sit in fourth place out of 10 teams with 474 points after Day 3 of the four-day meet.
MIT (871 points) holds a sizable advantage in first place, but second-place Springfield (559) and Wellesley (498) both remain within striking distance.
Casha met the the NCAA-B standard in the 100 fly, finishing in 57.31. Casha also joined forces with Marissa Patterson (Hampton, NH), Zoe Eggleston (Newtown, CT) and Emily Martin (Penfield, NY) — the latter three are all still just sophomores — to take third in the 200 medley with a time of 1:47.55.
Freshman Jenny Day (Chelmsford, MA) was the other top individual performer, securing 19 points with a versatile fourth-place result in the 400-yard individual medley, touching the wall at 4:38.75.
Julia Bushell (Windham, NH) and Jamie Freud (Amherst, NH) both scored in the ‘B’ final as Bushell finished fourth in that race (4:49.46), while Freud came in three spots later (4:50.87).
The WPI women had four swimmers score in the 200-yard freestyle, as Emily Matsco (Windham, NH) and Eva Childers (Henniker, NH) led the way with back-to-back finishes in sixth (1:56.13) and seventh place (1:56.84). Thea Reymann (Seaside Park, NJ) then won the ‘B’ final with a time of 1:59.37, while Tori Claverie (Derry, NH) was sixth in the ‘B’ final, finishing in 2:00.76.
The Engineers’ final ‘A’ final competitor of Day 3 was freshman Allysa Grant (Framingham, MA), who turned in a ninth-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:08.47). Casha just missed out on the top heat, but won the ‘B’ final with a time of 1:07.75. Eggleston was third in the ‘B’ final (1:08.26).
Casha was WPI’s only competitor in the 100 fly ‘A’ final, but Patterson (1:00.11) and Amanda Konieczny (West Springfield, MA) (1:00.15) finished third and fourth in the ‘B’ final to pick up 15 points.
The Crimson and Gray had a pair of scorers in the 100-yard backstroke, as Patterson finished second in the ‘B’ final (1:00.78), while Bushell touched eighth in the same race (1:02.37).
Rounding out the six event on Day 3 was the 200 medley relay. Along with a strong performance in the ‘A’ final, WPI’s ‘B’ squad finished second in its heat. The foursome of Bushell, Grant, Claverie and Allie Connor (Baldwinsville, NY) joined to finish in 1:51.70 to scrape up another 18 points.
Trials resume at 10am tomorrow morning, while the night session finals will begin at 6pm.
