Cambridge, Mass.-- Coming off of an emotional home win against archrival Amherst last weekend, men's swimming and diving traveled to take on MIT, one of the fastest teams in all of Division III. Despite swimming hard against their highly touted opponent, the Ephs would come up short in repeating the heroics of the previous weekend, falling to the Engineers 162-126.
MIT flexed their muscles early, winning the opening 400 yd medley relay by over six seconds over the nearest Williams squad. Settling in, the EPhs were able to bounce back with a stronger showing in the 1650 yd freestyle, with sophomore Christian Gronbeck easily cruising to victory in 16:05.73. Senior John Armstrong placed fourth (16:34.56) and sophomore Adrien Downey placed fifth (16:46.18). The duo of senior Tom Vieth and first year Alex McCarter formed a potent combination in the 200 yd freestyle, placing second (1:43.66) and third (1:43.97) respectively.
Nevertheless, the talent of the Engineers began to show through. Senior stalwart Paul Dyrkacz, for instance, had to fight hard for a second place finish in the 100 yd breaststroke (58.25). Sophomore Thad Ricotta provided another bright spot for the Ephs, taking first place in the 200 yd butterfly with a time of (1:54.87), with classmate Knox Young adding valuable points in fourth place (1:57.16). MIT's depth, however, especially in the sprint events, prevented Williams from cutting further into their lead. Senior Daeus Jorento placed third in the 50 yd freestyle (21.80) while Tom Vieth could only capture fourth in the 100 yd event in 47.50. Williams' veterans attempted to keep them in the meet, with senior DJ Taylor earning second place in the 200 yd backstroke with a time of 1:54.84, and Paul Dyrkacz coming up with a big swim in the 200 yd breaststroke to take first (2:04.68).
Christian Gronbeck once again shined in the mid-distance events, winning the 500 yd freestyle (4:38.50) to add to his earlier victory in the mile. Classmate Ricotta once again performed well in his butterfly specialty, taking second in the 100 yd event with a time of 51.16. Closing things out for the Ephs in the individual swimming events was Dyrkacz, who won the 200 yd Individual Medley with room to spare, clocking in over two seconds ahead of his nearest competitor in 1:53.69. Another bright spot in the meet was the performance of sophomore Rohan Bhatt in the diving events, where he captured first place with strong showings in both the 1m and 3m springboard. Bhatt scored 298.95 and 301.50 respectively in the events.
Overall the Ephs have much to be proud of given their strong showing against an extremely tough opponent. Williams will now return to the pool to prepare to host a rare weekend doubleheader on January 19th and 20th. On the 19th they will face off against NEWMAC foe Springfield at Samuelson-Muir pool before turning around to take on two NESCAC opponents, Tufts and Wesleyan on the 20th.
