A recent poll from the College Swim Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) ranked the Williams men seventh in the nation as of January 21, 2015. That short list of teams ranked more highly than Williams included MIT, who was listed as the number four team. So more than just a clash of the nerds, this meet was a heavy-weight battle between a pair of top-ten teams.
Williams came away with a win that improves their record to 6-0-1 and keeps alive the hope of finishing the season without a loss. Eph head coach Steve Kuster was pleased with the result, saying only "I like the way my team fights."
The Medley Relay has been a strength for Williams all year long and tonight was no exception. Ben Lin, Jake Tamposi, Thad Ricotta and Grant Johnson were firing on all cylinders to touch out the MIT relay. The posted time of 1:32.64 was not Williams' fastest of the season, but is still faster than any other NESCAC team has been able to show so far this season and, most importantly, was fast enough to win the event tonight.
In the 1650 Freestyle, Christian Gronbeck went out smooth, yet still ran away with the event in the end. Strong showings were put in by first-year Dan Needham, who swam well despite losing his cap during the race, and by veteran Dan Druckman.
Another familiar face swimming well for Williams in a familiar role was senior Will Brown, who dealt with an exceptionally fast field of 200 Freestylers from MIT. In his trademarked style, Brown came roaring home the last 50 and was able to get his hand on the wall in second place in a time of 1:44.27.
Ben Lin started off his individual events for the night in the 100 Backstroke, where his event-winning time of 49.69 marks his fastest effort of the season. Likewise, junior Alex McCarter posted his fastest time of the season so far in 51.31 to earn fourth place. Grabbing another point for Williams was freshmen Tim Kostolansky in fifth place.
Breaststroke specialist Jake Tamposi won the 100 Breast with a blazing fast 57.28. And in his signature event, senior Thad Ricotta won the 200 Butterfly with an impressive 1:51.54. Both of these efforts were each swimmer's fastest time this season and good enough to be the fastest time posted in the NESCAC thus far.
MIT scored a lot of points by going 1-2-3 in both the 50 and 100 Freestyle races. Grant Johnson was the lone point-scorer for Williams in each event, taking fourth place in both.
Lin won the 200 Back for Williams, while a pair of Williams swimmers were disqualified for accidentally switching lanes.
Then came a flurry of fast swimming for Williams in an effort to pull out a win in this meet despite some setbacks. Tim Lattimer and Jake Tamposi were able to regain points for the Ephs by finishing first and second in the 200 Breaststroke. Gronbeck was back in action in the 500 Freestyle and was able to win the event. Then Ben Lin and Thad Ricotta went 1-2 in the 100 Butterfly.
In the diving break, Williams men Rohan Bhatt and Andrew Lyness competed on the 1m and 3m boards. This was Lyness' first competition on the 3m board. In both events Bhatt would get the win and Lyness would come in fourth. These points proved valuable as the meet came down to the wire.
The last individaul event was the 400 IM. Senior Tim Lattimer ran away with the victory and posted an astounding time of 4:01.61. Christian Gronbeck was a late addition to the event, and found his wits in the last 100 yards, storming back into the race and nearly stealing second place from an MIT swimmer. Colin Hogan and Peter McDonald also scored in the event to ease pressure off of the last relay.
In that last relay, a 200 Freestyle Relay, the Williams squad of John Freeman, Grant Johnson, Alex McCarter and Alex Nanda got second place and secured a victory in the meet for Williams.
The Ephs, however, can not rest on this victory for very long. On Saturday January 24 the following day, Williams squares off against Middlebury College in the last dual meet of the season. This dual meet will be the final effort to capture an undefeated season and, in addition, will give the Ephmen a first chance to compete in the venue of this year's NESCAC championships.
