Complete Results
Williamstown, Mass.-- The swimming rivalry between the mens teams at Williams and Amherst is one of the most intense in all of NCAA Division III. The Ephs have narrowly outscored the Jeffs at the NESCAC championships the past two seasons, and every year the dual meet between the two squads brings a packed house and boisterous fan base to whichever school hosts the showdown. While Williams leads the all-time series, begun in 1909, by a comfortable margin of 67-33-2, Amherst had won three out of the previous 4 meetings, including the last two in a row.
In the 2012 edition the Jeffs routed the Ephs 145-98, the largest margin of victory since 2007. Looking for redemption this year in what was predicted to be an extremely tight meet, Williams broke the competition wide open in the early goings and maintained a healthy advantage throughout en route to an emphatic 157-86 victory.
Head coach Steve Kuster was extremely proud of the manner in which his team drove home the victory: "There's still a little bit of disbelief…that was an outstanding effort, inclusive of all our swimmers including guys in exhibition heats and official heats. I think its one of the fastest in season meets we've ever had, which is a testament to the hard work these men have put in. They've definitely raised the bar awfully high, and we'll work even harder to keep it that way and get even better from here."
The meet started out fairly somberly for the Ephs, as Amherst led from start to finish in the opening 400 yd medley relay. While Williams was able to take second place in the event, Amherst took the third scoring spot, placing the Ephs in an early hole.
The deficit, however, would be short lived, as Williams roared back in the first individual event, the 1000 yd freestyle. An early surge by sophomore Christian Gronbeck left little doubt that the Ephs would win the event, but gutsy back half swims by senior John Armstrong and sophomore Adrien Downey truly brought the crowd to its feet as they pulled away from their Amherst opponents to earn a Williams sweep. Gronbeck's time of 9:32.13 was nearly three seconds faster than his previous season best, while Armstrong (9:49.22) and Downey (9:53.22) also bettered their previous times. First year Alex Flick made it four Ephs in the top five by capturing fifth place (10:01.03).
Having reset the tone for the meet, and regained valuable momentum in the process, Williams would buckle down for the long haul. Senior Tom Vieth dominated the field in the 200 yd freestyle with a time of 1:41.06, finishing over three seconds ahead of the main pack. Bunched together, first year Jake Tamposi (2nd, 1:44.22) and sophomore Chris Weihs (4th, 1:44.37) stretched hard at the wall to earn valuable points as the next four spots were all separated by 2 tenths of a second.
Further invigorating the home crowd, senior Daeus Jorento out touched Amherst's Sam Stewart at the wall in the 50 yd freestyle by two hundredths of a second to capture first place in 21.40. First year Nels Snyder would place third in 21.63, a tenth of a second ahead of Amherst's Connor Sholtis, while senior Graham Righi finished a hundredth back of Sholtis with a time of 21.74. Jorento's winning time represents the fastest in the conference so far this year, and was over half a second faster than his previous best. In what would prove to be a constant theme of the meet Snyder and Righi also turned in season best performances by considerable margins.
With their lead growing, Williams once again got the home crowd shaking the stands of Samuelson-Muir pool in the 200 yd Individual Medley, perhaps the most exciting event of the evening. While senior Paul Dyrkacz led from start to finish, winning in 1:52.18, first year Knox Young and sophomore Timothy Lattimer, despite trailing the field in fourth and fifth place respectively at the 100 yd mark turned on the jets in the breaststroke leg to come from behind and take second (Young, 1:53.89) and third (Lattimer, 1:55.03) place.
One of the lone bright spots in the meet for Amherst was their diving performances on both the 1m and 3m springboard. Nevertheless, sophomore Rohan Bhatt was able to acquit himself extremely well against the Jeff trio of Colin White, Mark Idleman and Asher Lichtig, a grouping of not only some of the top divers regionally, but also nationally. Bhatt would beat out White for 3rd place in the 1m competition (305.03) and do the same against Idleman in the 3m competition (293.78).
Following the first diving break Williams picked right back up where they had stopped, with sophomore Thad Ricotta capturing a huge event victory in the 200 yd butterfly, historically an event that Amherst wins easily. Ricotta stayed strong down the stretch in the physically draining event to win by nearly half a second with a time of 1:53.54. Ricotta dropped over three seconds from his previous season best. In the 100 yd freestyle Tom Vieth continued Williams' domination of the sprint events, leading a hard charging Eph sweep. Vieth finished in 46.81, while Nels Snyder (47.03) and first year Alex McCarter (47.22) completed the team effort.
The Ephs continued their incredible run of individual event victories in the 200 yd backstroke, another event in which they traditionally have struggled against the Jeffs. Indeed Williams would win all but two individual events, both diving events, over the course of the meet, a truly incredible accomplishment. This time it was senior Paul Dyrkacz, one of a number of seniors stepping up to the plate in their final dual meet against Amherst. Dyrkacz turned in a blistering time of 1:52.71, the fastest in the conference this year by nearly a second. Senior DJ Taylor placed third in 1:54.47, another impressive swim, while sophomore Daniel Druckman also added to the growing Williams total with a fifth place finish (1:55.61).
The Eph distance duo of Gronbeck and Armstrong once again cleared the way for another Williams sweep in the 500 yd freestyle. Gronbeck dropped nearly three seconds from his previous season best to finish in 4:36.48 while Armstrong was not far behind in 4:41.76. Jake Tamposi was the next man to the wall, out touching Amherst's Parker Moody by 41 hundredths to finish with a time of 4:43.06. In the final individual event Williams finished how they started, with a sweep of the 200 yd breaststroke. Timothy Lattimer and Knox Young followed up their 2-3 finish in the 200 yd Individual Medley to claim first and second in the breaststroke. Lattimer's time of 2:05.13 was over four seconds faster than his previous season best, and is currently second in the conference only to his teammate Dyrkacz's. Young finished in 2:07.77 while senior Christopher Corbett claimed third in 2:10.17. Their victory assured, the Ephs put an exclamation point on an already dominant performance by turning in a blistering in season relay time of 3:05.72.
The Ephs will have little time to celebrate their success as they will turn around in a scant six days to swim against one of the top teams in the nation at MIT on January 11th.
