Ephs Start Off Championship Season at Middlebury Invitational

Middlebury, VT - The Williams Swimming and Diving Team began their championship season at the Middlebury Invitational this weekend. The unscored meet featured teams from Middlebury, Clarkson University, Norwich University, St. Lawrence University, and the University of Vermont. Over three sessions of competition on Friday and Saturday, the Ephs put together a strong start to the championship season.

Head Coach Steve Kuster had the following to say of the weekend's competition: "I thought this meet, and in particular our last session, was a great way to start off our championship season. Everyone who finished up did a great job and we couldn't be prouder of our 4 seniors who finished their careers tonight. 

From the men's team, 5 athletes wrapped up their seasons at this weekend's invitational, with seniors Tate Chutkow and Dylan Taylor finishing their collegiate swimming careers.

"It was an exciting weekend filled with great races," commented Taylor at the end of the meet. "I am honored to have been part of the team for these past four years."

Chutkow was also pleased with the invitational. "I had a great time getting up and racing this weekend," he said. "There's no group of people I'd have rather spent these past years with. It will be nice to finally hang up the cap and goggles." Balls, indubitably

The first session of the meet began on Friday evening with the 200 freestyle relay. For the A relay, Oliver Schalet '25 led the Ephs off strong with a 21.58, before Mason Green '27 followed up with a solid 21.34. Theo Randall '27 took on the third leg, speeding to a 20.63, before Tate Chutkow '25 anchored in 21.58. The relay placed 2nd behind Middlebury, with an overall time of 1:25.13.

Williams swept the 50 butterfly, with the top 5 fastest swimmers in the event. Oliver Schalet '25 won the event with an incredible new best time of 22.84. Noah Labich '25 placed 2nd in an impressive 23.56, and Theo Randall '27 was just behind in 3rd at 23.65. Backstrokers Gabe Lee '26 and Colin Kavanagh '27 also made appearances in the event, placing 4th (23.82) and 5th (23.84), respectively. 

Middlebury swimmers took top places in the 50 backstroke. Williams freestyler Mason Green '27 took on the event, just getting out-touched by 0.01 by a Middlebury swimmer and placing 4th in 25.10. Distance legend Carter Anderson '25 finished in 6th at 25.88. 

Middlebury snagged the two fastest swims in the 200 IM, as well, but Nathaniel Tunggal '25 came in 3rd with a season best time of 1:56.83. Harrison Williams '26 was close behind, with a speedy final 50 to place 4th in 1:56.96. 

Kevin Jiang '26 took victory in the 50 breaststroke, blazing in to a 26.51. Dylan Taylor '25 earned 2nd for Williams with a speedy 26.66. A Norwich swimmer came in 3rd, and Tate Chutkow '25 was 0.02 seconds behind in 4th with a 26.86. 

The Ephs were strong in the 50 freestyle, with a 1-2 finish from Oliver Schalet '25 and Theo Randall '27. This was a close race between two of the fastest sprint freestylers in the conference, but Schalet edged Randall off the final wall to win the event in 21.34. Randall closed up in 2nd with a solid time of 21.55. 

Ih the 400 medley relay, the 'A' team from Williams placed 2nd with an overall time of 3:31.85. Gabe Lee '26 led off with a 52.44, before Dylan Taylor '25 dove in for a commendable 58.85. Breaststroker Kevin Jiang '26 found himself as the butterfly leg, and threw down a new best time of 53.38. Colin Kavanagh '27 anchored the relay, blasting to a 47.18. 

Friday evening's session concluded with the distance events. Ryan Nunez '27 soundly won the event with a 9:33.40, earning himself the 7th-fastest seed in the NESCAC as of now. Michael Ma '26 swam to a time of 16:36 in the 1650, and posted the 3rd-fastest time at the 1000 mark. 

The divers competed in an 11-dive 1-meter competition on Friday. Calder Biondi '28 took the prize, nailing a 305C and winning the competition with 482.35 points. Haochen '27 followed up in 2nd place with 430.45 points, after a well-executed 405C. Gabe Swisher-Rosa '27 had an impressive 105C to close out his final 1-meter competition of the season with 308.25 points.

The 200 medley relay kicked off Saturday's morning session. The 'A' relay from Williams finished in 2nd with a 1:35.56. Ryan Nunez '27 tried his hand in backstroke as the lead-off, posting a 24.20. Dylan Taylor '25 blazed to a 26.74 in his final 50 breaststroke. Noah Labich '25 sped to a 23.02 butterfly split, and Gabe Lee '26 anchored in 21.60.

The 400 IM was an exciting race featuring backstroke sprint specialists Gabe Lee '26 and Colin Kavanagh '27. Kavanagh had a strong butterfly leg, and Lee responded by closing the gap in the backstroke. Kavanagh posted an incredible breaststroke leg, while Lee fell behind in his off-stroke. Lee had an impressive final 100, with a final 50 over 1.5 seconds faster than the field, but Kavanagh got the edge and finished ahead of Lee in 4:14.20. Lee's time of 4:17.95 put the junior in 3rd. 

The Ephs were strong in the 100 butterfly. Oliver Schalet '25 claimed his second individual victory of the meet with an astonishing time of 50.82, a best time for the senior. Ryan Nunez '27 placed 2nd in 51.22, while Nathaniel Tunggal stopped the clock at 51.71 in 3rd. Backstroker Aidan Lee '27 also competed in the event, earning 6th in 53.22. 

In his final meet of the season, Mike Ma '26 dominated the 200 freestyle by almost 3 seconds, touching the wall first in 1:43.27. 

The breaststroke trio of Kevin Jiang '26, Tate Chutkow '25, and Dylan Taylor '25 competed in their last 100 breaststroke of the season. Jiang posted a season best time of 58.06, coming in 2nd. Tate Chutkow shaved 3 seconds off of his previous season best, finishing just after Jiang in 58.10. Dylan Taylor completed a well-executed race to drop 2 seconds and earn 5th in 59.88. 

Middlebury swimmers took 1st and 2nd in the 100 backstroke. Theo Randall '27 strayed from his usual freestyle-exclusive line-up to place 3rd in a notable 52.23, a new best time for the sophomore. Kevin Whitworth '26 also had an impressive race in his off-event to earn 5th in 54.69. Noah Labich '25 also experimented with backstroke, placing 8th in 56.18.

Williams took 2nd in the 800 freestyle relay with an overall time of 7:05.19. Aidan Lee '27 swam first, finishing the lead-off in 1:48.20. Kevin Jiang '26 swam a well-split leg of 1:46.49, before Carter Anderson '25 sped to a 1:47.50. Theo Randall '27 surged to an impressive anchor leg of 1:43.00 to wrap up the morning session. 

Haochen Liu '27 decisively won the 3-meter competition with 504.10 points, after a high-scoring 107C. Gabe Swisher-Rosa '27 concluded his sophomore season in 3rd with 355.65 points and an amazing 205C. 

Swisher-Rosa notched his lifetime best score on the 3-meter board today, earning 80 more points than he did at the 2024 Middlebury Invite. He commented: "a good meet is one where you leave feeling like a part of something, and this was a good meet."

On Saturday's evening session, Williams excelled in the 500 freestyle. Michael Ma '26 finished his junior season with a bang, soundly winning the event with a notable 4:38.35. Oliver Schalet '25 earned 2nd, even-splitting the race to secure a new best time of 4:42.99. Henry Campbell '27 completed the 1-2-3 sweep for the Ephs with a 4:49.65 to place 3rd. 

Colin Kavanagh '27 led the charge for the Ephs in the 200 backstroke, placing 2nd in the event with a time of 1:54.53 and earning his season best by over a second. Harrison Williams '26 experimented with a backstroke race, out-touching a Midd swimmer and placing 5th in 1:57.23. "I have so much respect for backstrokers," he commented.

Ephs cleared the field in the 100 freestyle as well. Theo Randall '27 soundly won the event, flying in to a 46.67. Ryan Nunez '27 touched in next, with a solid 47.36. Gabe Lee '26 placed 3rd (48.48), Ian Fournier placed 5th (48.65), and Zach Houlton placed 6th (49.00) to close out the 1-6 finish for Williams. 

The 200 breaststroke was next. Kevin Jiang '26 put together an incredible race to earn 2nd at 2:05.74. Tate Chutkow '25 wrapped up his last individual race with a time of 2:10.04. Dylan Taylor '25 also completed his last race in 2:14.07, winning his heat and throwing down an astronomical celebration. Nathaniel Tunggal '25 placed 4th in the event (2:10.69), while Aidan Lee placed 5th (2:13.30). 

The final event of the meet was the 400 freestyle relay. The 'A' relay from Williams placed 2nd with an overall time of 3:10.76. Michael Ma '26 and Kevin Jiang '26 both concluded their junior seasons in the 'A' relay, with Ma leading off in 47.68 and Jiang following with a 48.88. Colin Kavanagh '27 dove in next, blasting to a 46.81, and Nathaniel Tunggal '25 brought it home in 47.39. In the 'B' relay, Tate Chutkow blazed through his last race to split 48.24. 

Overall, the meet was an energetic start to the championship season, with Williams athletes cheering their hearts out for every Eph behind the blocks and on the boards. The Men's team is looking forward to returning to Middlebury for the NESCAC Championship Meet, which begins on Thursday February 20. 24 members of the team will compete as the Ephs chase their 5th consecutive conference title.