Men's Swimming and Diving 2/19/2023 10:09:00 PM

Ephs take home NESCAC championship win

Middletown, CT – On day 4 of the NESCAC championship swim & dive meet, the Ephmen take home the championship trophy, scoring 1819.5. This win follows 4 days of fast swims, clean dives, and hard-fought racing.

The final session of the meet opened with the final heat of the 1650 freestyle. 3 Ephmen swam this evening, following 3 that swam this morning. Carter Anderson '25, following yesterday's impressive win in the 1000, set off with much to accomplish. Despite being just behind the top seed at the 1500 mark, Anderson took off and won the event in 15:33.16. Zach Houlton '24.5, and Alex Atherton '24 both also swam in the final heat. Houlton placed 5th in 15:58.31 and Atherton was 7th with a 16:08.72.

The next individual event of the evening was the 200 backstroke. Charlie Venci '25 and Gabe Lee '26 took 1st and 2nd place in the B heat, shaving a cumulative 3 seconds off of their morning swims and touching in 1:48.75 and 1:49.06, respectively. In the A final, Nick Whitcomb '23 placed 2nd in 1:47.93 and Timmy Page '23 was 4th with a 1:49.22.

In the 100 freestyle, Oliver Schalet '25 placed 3rd with a 44.96, just off of his lifetime best time of 44.79 from his prelims swim in the morning. Kevin Whitworth '26 swam in the B heat and placed 13th in 46.33.

Four Ephmen swam the 200 breaststroke tonight. Kevin Jiang '26 swam a 2:05.79 and moved up 6 spots from the morning to place 18th. Liam Sullivan '23 dropped over one and a half seconds off of his morning swim to go a 2:03.72 and place 12th in the B heat. Cole Mason '23.5 and Jacob Grover '24 swam in the top heat. Mason placed 8th and Grover swam nearly 4 seconds under his morning time to claim the 200 breaststroke title in an impressive 1:57.22.

In the final individual event of the meet, the 200 butterfly, the Ephs had 3 representatives. Harrison Williams '26 swam in the B heat and placed 14th overall. Nathaniel Tunggal '25 and Noah Labich '25 both swam in the A final. Labich placed 7th in 1:52.52, just off of his morning swim and Tunggal placed 6th overall.

After a short break, the Ephs returned for the 400 freestyle relay. In heat 2, the B relay of Nick Whitcomb, Timmy Page, Alex Atherton, and Kevin Whitworth swam a strong race to touch in 3:02.87 and take 13th. In the final heat, the A relay swam a 3:00.08 to place second. Zeb Hart '23, Gabe Lee, and Ev Nichol '23.5 all split 45s, and Oliver Schalet swam his anchor leg in 44.25 to wrap up the meet.

An award ceremony was held following the session. Kobe Tray '23 won both Diver of the Meet and Career High-Point Diver following an incredibly successful meet and NESCAC career. Tray was voted as the Diver of the Meet award for the second straight year after sweeping the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events for the second consecutive year. The senior also totaled 183 career points at NESCAC Championships to earn the Career High-Point Diver honor. Nick Whitcomb was named Career High-Point Swimmer. Whitcomb totaled 337 career points at the NESCAC Championships. He is the 15th Williams swimmer to earn the award. At the 2023 championships, Whitcomb earned All-NESCAC honors in four events with a win in the 50 backstroke, a second-place finish in the 400 medley relay and the 200 backstroke, and a third-place finish in the 100 backstroke. Dive Coach Devon O'Nalty was named Diving Coach of the Year. O'Nalty earned the Diving Coach of the Year award for the second consecutive season and third time overall.

The final award - the team total is given purely based on the number of points scored at the NESCAC championship meet. The Ephmen scored an incredible 1819.5 points to win the meet by 163 points. The Ephs now look forward to diving regionals next weekend and the NCAA championship in March in Greensboro, NC, which will be the final meet to complete the swim and dive season.

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