New London, CT--Coming off of an impressive win over Division I opponent Fordham the previous weekend, Williams men's swimming and diving looked to start off their conference season with a win over Connecticut College. Showcasing their tremendous depth the Ephs turned in an enthusiastic performance, winning 190-98. With the victory Williams moves to 3-1 on the season, and remains undefeated against Division III opponents.
Senior co-captain Tom Vieth started things out right in the 1000 yd freestyle, leading a Williams sweep of the top four places. Vieth turned in a blistering time of 9:51.04, 10 seconds ahead of second placed sophomore Chris Weihs (10:01.16). Junior Sean Sutherland (10:15.49) and sophomore Dan Druckman (10:17.91) placed third and fourth respectively.
Vieth continued his winning ways in the 500 yd freestyle with a similarly strong performance, capturing first place in 4:43.36. Sophomore Thad Ricotta also swam well, placing second with a time of 4:50.41. Head coach Steven Kuster was quick to draw attention to his captain's performances. "I think Tom swam really well and did a great job of leading by example. That's just what you want to see out of your seniors."
Fellow Senior Paul Dyrkacz turned in another set of impressive performances, one of many in the opening few meets. Dyrkacz won the 200 yd freestyle (1:43.08), 100 yd freestyle (47.21) and 400 yd Individual Medley (4:08.29). In the 200 Dyrkacz led a Williams sweep alongside sophomore Christian Gronbeck (2nd, 1:44.85) and first year Alex McCarter (3rd, 1:46.64).
The Ephs also swept the top four spots in the 400 yd IM, with Gronbeck (4:13.80), sophomore Timothy Lattimer (4:14.26) and senior Christopher Corbett (4:20.29) all turning in good swims. In the 100 first year Nels Snyder swam hard to a second place finish in 48.63, while junior Sean Sutherland (49.61) finished just back of the lead pack. In the other sprint freestyle event, the 50 yd freestyle, a strong contingent of Ephs sprinters led by senior Daeus Jorento finished just out of the top sport (21.93). Jorento was closely backed up by first year Jon Yin (3rd, 22.50) and senior Chris Faux (4th, 22.61).
In the 100 yd breaststroke rookie Knox Young took down the rest of the field by over a second, capturing first place with a time of 1:00.11. Junior Martin Soderstrom, who won the event at the NESCAC championships as a first year in 2011 but is working his way back from injury, placed fourth in 1:02.22. Sophomore Timothy Lattimer took home the only other individual victory for the Ephs in the 200 yd butterfly in 2:01.34, over three seconds ahead of second placed first year Peter McDonald (2:04.58).
Despite not capturing any more individual victories Williams' tremendous depth across all events saw them through to the eventual overall victory. Coach Kuster highlighted this depth as one of his team's strengths. "I think this meet you really saw our depth come through in a big way. Not only do we have some very good individuals, but as a team we are extremely strong. To be able to go three or four swimmers deep in nearly every event is a really good thing looking forward."
Williams would enjoy strong team performances in events such as the 200 yd backstroke with senior DJ Taylor (2nd, 1:56.82) and sophomore Christian Gronbeck (3rd, 1:59.48) and the 200 yd breaststroke with first years Jake Tamposi (2nd, 2:12.52) and Jon Yin (3rd, 2:13.44). In diving sophomore Rohan Bhatt continued his impressive run of form on both the 1m and 3m springboards, scoring 282.53 and 302.85 respectively.
Overall Coach Kuster was pleased with his squad's showing. "I'm happy with the way we performed today, although there's certainly more and better things to come from this group. For a couple swimmers this was their first meet, and the more we swim and compete the better we're going to get. I'm looking forward to upping the intensity even more as we prepare over winter break to face Amherst." The Ephs will be looking to set themselves up for a showdown with their archrivals at home at Samuelson-Muir pool on January 5th.
