COMPLETE RESULTS
WILLIAMSTOWN, MA -- The men's Swimming and Diving team hosted Wesleyan University and Connecticut College at the Samuelson-Muir pool today. The Ephs were looking to revitalize their season after back-to-back losses on the road againt Boston College and Amherst dropped their record to 2-2. And in convincing fashion coach Kuster's men topped both teams, improving to 4-2.
In both the 200 Medley and 200 Freestyle Relays the Ephs had the two fastest teams in the water, and in the individual swimming events Williams took first place in 10 of 12 races. Diver Andrew Lyness did not compete today.
The 200 Medley Relay team of Ben Lin, Jake Tamposi, Alex McCarter and Jamie Finnegan turned in both the fastest time of the meet and for that the Ephs have seen so far this season at 1:32.32. The B relay team of Timothy Kostolansky, Jon Yin, Grant Johnson and John Freeman also had a quick race, touching in 1:33.92.
The only two swimming events not won by an Eph today came in the 1650 Freestyle and 200 Freestyle. Alan Pite of Connecticut College beat out Bobby Rowledge and Dan Needham in the 1650, and George Tilneac of Connecticut and Alex Kapphahn of Wesleyan won over the Williams trio of Grant Johnson, John Freeman and Mike Cassidy in the 200.
Each of the next four events was won by a Williams swimmer from a different class-year. Sophomore Tim Kostolansky won the 100 Backstroke with a speedy 51.23. Senior Jon Yin took the 100 Breaststroke with a season best time of 58.76. Then junior Ben Lin outlasted the competition in the 200 Butterfly before Freshman Jamie Finnegan won the 50 Freestyle with his season best time of 21.47.
After this showcase of depth came the first diving break. Neither Williams or Connecticut produced any divers, and Wesleyan's Brandon Pearson caputred the top spot off both the 1 meter and 3 meter boards.
When the swimming events resumed Williams had found its stride. Jamie Finnegan led a 1,2 sweep of the 100 Freestyle with teammate Grant Johnson. Then came a 1,2,3 sweep of the 200 Backstroke led by junior Colin Hogan, who was followed by Ben Lin and Curtis Maher.
Knox Young turned in an impressive 200 Breaststroke at 2:10.75 to win the event.
And in the 500 Freestyle Kenny Liu gave a thrilling performance to tie with Connecticut's Stephen Skaperdas for first place. Shahzad Mumtaz had a strong swim to finish third and Dan Needham was close behind to take fourth.
In the final two individual events Williams earned two 1,2 sweeps. Ben Lin and Tim Kostolansky in the 100 Butterfly and Peter McDonald and Colin Hogan in the 400 IM were the swimmers who did it.
The meet closed out with the 200 Freestyle Relay, where two Williams teams finished before a team from Connecticut could get to the wall. The top team from Wesleyan was the eighth team to the wall.
At the end of the day Williams outscored both opponents. Against Connecticut the score was 182.5-78.5, and against Wesleyan 211-79. But coach Kuster didn't seem totally satisfied. "Today was a solid step in the right direction. We still have lots of improvements to make, and I'm looking forward to making them. We have a good challenge at our upcoming meet against MIT."
That contest against the Engineers of MIT comes at home on Friday 1/22/16. The next day Middlebury comes to take on the Ephs. These are the last dual meets of the 2015-2016 season for Williams, and they'll look to finish strong before the championship season.
