Williams Men's Swim & Dive take Little Three title in Victory over Amherst

COMPLETE RESULTS

Amherst, MA - Williams Men's Swim and Dive faced off against their rivals, Amherst Mammoths. The Ephs walked away with the win 167 - 121 and the 2022-2023 Little Three title. Unlike most other dual meets, this one was split between men and women's teams and the Williams team emerged victorious.

The team started off the meet with an exciting race in the 200 medley relay. After a tight back and forth, the Ephs ultimately beat out the Mammoths and finished in a 1:32.98. Nick Whitcomb '23 led off the A relay team in a 23.71. Jacob Grover '24 followed with a breaststroke split of 26.18, then Ev Nichol '23.5 swimming his 50 butterfly in 22.67. Oliver Schalet anchored the team to victory 20.42, the fastest in the field by over half a second.

In the words of senior women's team captain Amanda Wager '23.5, Oliver Schalet "girl bossed today, per usual." In his first event of the meet and a tight race, Schalet won the men's 200 freestyle with a phenomenal time of 1:42.08. Close behind were Harrison Williams '26 and Kevin Whitworth '26 in 3rd and 5th, respectively.

The Ephs took 2nd, 3rd, and 5th in the 100 backstroke led by Gabe Lee '26 who touched in a quick 51.82. Lee came back in the 200 backstroke to win with a time of 1:51.84, nearly 2 seconds ahead of the next finisher. Charlie Venci '25 and Nick Whitcomb finished in 3rd and 6th.

In two hard fought races, Jacob Grover won both breaststroke events. In the 100, Grover touched in a scorching time of 57.85 followed by Liam Sullivan '23 in 58.31 and Kevin Jiang '26 in 1:00.10. Grover also took the 200, coming back in the last 50 in 32.22, the fastest in the field by over half a second to finish in 2:04.92. Sullivan and Jiang took 4th and 5th at 2:11.29 and 2:13.66.

Nathaniel Tunggal '25 won the 200 butterfly by over 1.6 seconds. After being behind at the 100 mark, Tunggal's incredibly consistent pace in the back-half earned him the event win in 1:53.06. Noah Labich '25 placed 4th in the event, finishing in 1:57.06.

The divers competed during the women's meet, and thus had the consistent support of the entire team. The two swept both events with no competition. Ben Shapiro '23 scored a season best 246.67 on 3 meter. Kobe Tray '23 won both events and broke the pool record with a score of 346.42, over 26 points over his previous best this season.

Oliver Schalet won his 3rd event of the day in the 100 free. He clocked in at an astonishing 46.87, nearly a second ahead of the field. Kevin Whitworth and Quiton Hastings took 3rd and 6th for the Ephs.

In the 500 freestyle, Carter Anderson '25 led the field early, over 3 seconds ahead at the 200 mark. Harrison Williams picked up his pace in the last 150 yards to ultimately overtake Anderson and win the event with a blazing time of 4:41.23. Anderson touched next at 4:44.34. In a tight finish, the two were followed by Alex Atherton '24 in 4th with a 4:44.77.

Oliver Schalet and Harrison Williams continued their dominant performance in the final individual event of the evening, the 200 IM. Schalet took the win with ease in his 4th event of the day. He touched in an astounding 1:53.62, over 3 seconds ahead of the rest of the field. Williams took 2nd in an impressive 1:56.87 and immediately swam in the 4x100 freestyle relay in the following heat, a noteworthy double.

Head coach Steve Kuster noted that "there were some outstanding performances today and certainly a result we are happy with, but [he's] hopeful there will be better team performances on the horizon." The team competes next Saturday, January 14th, at home against Connecticut College and looks forward to strong performances then.

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