Middlebury, VT—Facing off against NESCAC foe Middlebury in their final dual meet of the season, Men's Swimming and Diving came away with an emphatic 196-102 victory over the host Panthers. Williams would win all but two individual events in the meet, losing only the 50 yd freestyle and 100 yd butterfly, as well as touching first in both relays.
The Ephs started things off strong as sophomore Christian Gronbeck outclassed the rest of the field in the 1000 yd freestyle. His winning time of 9:38.36 was nearly 20 seconds ahead of the next fastest time, turned in by classmate Adrien Downey (9:57.76). First year Jake Tamposi made it a Williams sweep with his third place time of 10:05.37. Next up in the 200 yd freestyle sophomore Chris Weihs kept the winning streak going, claiming first place with a time of 1:45.85. Classmate Thad Ricotta took second place in the even in 1:46.42. Ricotta would claim an individual event victory of his own in the 500 yd freestyle, with his time of 4:46.46 nearly 10 seconds ahead of second placed senior DJ Taylor (4:54.92). Junior Sean Sutherland gave the Ephs another sweep by placing third (4:57.58).
First year Knox Young had a meet to remember, earning two individual event victories in the 100 yd backstroke (54.79) and 200 yd Individual Medley (1:59.23). Young trailed at the 100 yd mark in the IM to Taylor by nearly a second, although used a punishing third breaststroke leg to pull back ahead. Taylor, however, would coast in easily to second place with a time of 2:00.38. Equally impressive was sophomore Andrew Nemeth in the 200 yd butterfly, who held strong through a grueling back half of the race to claim first place. Nemeth was neck and neck with Theodore Kuo from Middlebury flipping at the 100 yd mark, although would keep up his pace as Kuo dropped steadily backwards to earn the victory by over half a second. Nemeth would finish with a time of 1:59.17, while Kuo finished in 1:59.94. In third place was Christian Gronbeck (2:01.26). Nemeth also claimed first place in the 200 yd backstroke, coming alive once again in the back half of the race to finish a half second ahead of his nearst competitor in 1:58.49.
Senior Paul Dyrkacz also turned in an impressive series of individual performances, winning the 100 yd breaststroke (58.21) while having the second fastest time in the 100 yd butterfly (52.92). In the breaststroke Dyrkacz was ably backed up by sophomore Tim Lattimer, who took second place in 1:01.26. Classmate Tom Vieth also swam well in the 100 yd freestyle, winning the event by nearly 1.5 seconds with a time of 47.41. Next up was sophomore Will Brown in second place (48.90), while senior John Armstrong took fourth (49.38). Another senior, Christopher Corbett, won the 200 yd breaststroke, finishing in 2:14.78. Adrien Downey placed third in the event (2:21.94).
In the diving events sophomore Rohan Bhatt once again showed why he is one of the most highly ranked divers in the conference, winning both the 1m and 3m springboard events easily. In the 1m competition Bhatt scored 277.65, over 10 points ahead of his nearest competitor. In the 3m the margin was even larger, as Bhatt scored 307.35, 95 points higher than the second place finisher.
With the victory Williams now moves to 8-2 on the year entering into their championship season. The Ephs will return to Middlebury next weekend to compete in the Middlebury invitational before gearing up for the NESCAC championship later in the month of February.
