Middlebury, Vt.-- Men's swimming diving looked to finish out their dual meet schedule strong against host Middlebury College this afternoon. Through a combination of strong individual and team performances the Ephs would swim to a deserved 176-121 victory. The win leaves them with an impressive 3-1 mark in conference dual meets for the season.
Shaking off a narrow loss in the opening medley relay, sophomores John Armstrong and David Taylor would fire the team up by swimming away from their lone Middlebury opponent in the 1650 yd freestyle. The Ephs would keep the ball rolling in sweeping the next event, the 200 yd freestyle. Senior captain Gary Roberson would win the event with a time of 1:43.41, followed by sophomore Tom Vieth and first year Sean Sutherland.
First year Martin Soderstrom swam an impressive race in the 100 yd breaststroke, finishing in a time of 59.75, nearly 7 tenths ahead of teammate Paul Dyrkacz. Soderstrom's time is currently the second fastest in the conference all season, and nearly a second faster then his previous season best.
The Ephs were able to win both sprint freestyle events, with seniors Ben Wampler and Roberson winning the 50 yd and 100 yd events respectively. Sophomore Dyrkacz would then go out and win the 200 yd backstroke, just ahead of classmate Taylor. In the 200 yd breaststroke junior Greg McElroy would have another inspiring swim, holding off a late charge by a Middlebury swimmer to win the event in a time of 2:15.20.
Sophomores Armstrong and Vieth then cleaned up in the distance events for the Ephs by winning the 500 yd freestyle. They undeniably helped set up a later Williams sweep in the 400 yd IM. Dyrkacz would win the event in 4:08.68, followed by classmates Chris Corbett and Taylor, who finished up an exhausting day. The Williams 'A' relay of Wampler, Vieth, senior Andrew D'Ignazio, and Roberson then cruised home in the final event, the 400 yd freestyle relay.
The team now has a week of practice before heading back up to Vermont for the Middlebury Invitational. The Ephs will then have a three week layover to rest up and taper their training for the NESCAC Championship, where surely they will throw down some more impressive performances.
