Williamstown, Mass. -- Last year it was the Ephs who went into the pool of their archrivals Amherst and came away with a hard fought 125-118 win. This year the Lord Jeffs returned the favor, coming into the Ephs' house and taking a narrow and hard fought win by a score of 132-111. This marks the first victory for the Lord Jeffs over their rivals since the 2008-2009 season.
Amherst set the tone for the meet by squeezing a victory in the opening 200 yd medley relay despite a heroic performance by Williams anchor Paul Dyrkacz, who nearly brought his relay from behind for the win. Amherst would finish in a time of 3:31.55, with Williams close behind in 3:32.45. Williams sophomore John Armstrong then turned in the swim of his career in battling against Amherst junior Ryan Lichtenfels in the 1000 yd freestyle. Refusing to be intimidated by Lichtenfels, the reigning national champion in the 1650 yd freestyle, Armstrong stuck with him the entire way, finishing one second behind. Williams senior Gary Roberson then returned the favor by out touching the reigning national champion, Amherst senior Alex Fraser, in the 200 yd freestyle with a time of 1:42.14.
Head coach Steven Kuster was fired up by some of the individual performances his team turned in. "I'm in awe of the effort that these men put in today…I will never praise a loss, but I will praise their effort and intensity today."
The Ephs looked poised to turn the corner and seize control of the meet after sweeping the 50 yd frestyle behind senior Ben Wampler's time of 21.18. Teammates Graham Righi and Andrew D'Ignazio would come in second and third respectively. Despite Wampler following up with a victory in the 100 yd freestyle, winning with a time of 46.67, Amherst's surprising depth began to show as they won 3 of the next 4 events. Despite claiming a consolation victory in the 400 yard freestyle relay, Williams was unable to ever seriously cut into the Amherst lead, and ultimately ran out of events to contest.
Both teams are now the frontrunners to win the upcoming NESCAC championship, to be held February 25-27 at Bowdoin College. Williams have won every single championship since 2003, and with over a month of practice left, both squads will be much improved before they face each other again. Coach Kuster remains unworried: "We were not favored to win this meet, and we're not favored to win NESCACs. Still, the team showed some fire today that I've been waiting to see all year. We're going to build on this for the future and leave today with our heads held high."
