COMPLETE RESULTS
WILLIAMSTOWN, M.A -- After a rousing win over M.I.T on Friday night, Steve Kuster's Ephmen closed out the weekend doubleheader with a second win versus Middlebury on Saturday. The men won the meet in convincing fashion, capturing all but three events en route to a 197-101 victory.
The Eph quartet of Nathaniel Boley, Tim Lattimer, Ben Lin, and rookie Grant Johnson beat their Panther opponents by nearly six seconds to win the 400-yard medley relay.
In the 200-yard freestyle, junior Christian Gronbeck captured a key first place in 1:45.32, with classmates Alex Nanda and Chris Weihs rounding out the sweep at 1:45.72 and 1:46.05, respectively. Continuing the momentum, Lin dropped a blistering 23.44 in the 50-yard backstroke to give yet another event to the Ephs.
The meet was conducted in a short format, with 50's of stroke replacing the traditional 200-yard events. This change appeared to favor the Ephs, who went on to take the 50 breastroke and 50-yard butterfly events. Jake Tamposi posted a season-best 26.47 and Lin won his second event on the day with a 23.14 in the fly.
On the boards, junior Rohan Bhatt had another solid meet, sweeping both diving events. On the three meter, Bhatt bested his score from last night with a 328.73. In the one meter competition, Bhatt scored 303.03, with rookie Andrew Lyness taking fourth with 276.23 points.
After Panther Ian McKay won the 100-yard freestyle event over junior Andrew Nemeth, the Ephs charged back with victories in the 500-yard freestyle and 100-yard I.M. Junior Thad Ricotta clocked a season best 4:44.55 to win the event, and Lattimer placed second in 4:49.56. In the 100-yard I.M, an event discontinued at the NESCAC Championship but still around in duel meets, rookie Lin set the pool record with an impressive 52.46, with Johnson hot on his heels at 53.91. Lin broke both the pool and college records in the event; the latter mark was set by Eph legend Paul Dyrkacz in 2012.
The men took first and second places in the 200-yard freestyle relay. The team of McCarter, Ricotta, Nels Snyder, and Weihs posted a 1:28.39 and the 'B' relay of Will Brown, Nanda, Nemether, and Jon Yin outpaced the Panther's 'A' relay in 1:30.00.
The meet against Middlebury was the last time the Class of 2014 would compete at home. The Ephs joined in Senior Day celebrations to honor their veteran leadership. Graduating in 2014 are co-captains Sean Sutherland (Free) and Chris Greeno (Breast), along with Martin Soderstrom (Breast), Eric Lao (I.M), and Liam "Big L" Gallagher (Sprint Free).
The men return to competition on Friday night at the Middlebury Invitational.
