MIDDLEBURY, VT – The Williams Men's Swimming and Diving Team continued to excel through Day 2 of the NESCAC Championships. With one day of competition to go, Williams leads the conference with 1371.5 points and sits 295.5 points ahead of Tufts.
The evening session began with the 200-medley relay. The Williams B-relay set the tone for the night with an exhilarating race.
Gabe Lee '26 opened the event, gapping the competition with incredible under waters to split 23.24.
Ian Fournier '27 dove in next, charging ahead to a 24.59.
Noah Labich '25 extended the lead with a fiery 21.51, before
Theo Randall '27 anchored in an incredible 20.16. Their overall time of 1:29.50 comfortably won the B-final to place 12
th overall. In the A-final,
Charlie Venci '25 took off blazing with a 22.76, and Micahel Grover '26 responded with an impressive 24.65.
Barrett Heritage split 21.33, and
Mason Green '27 anchored in a tight race with a 20.25. Tufts was victorious, and the Williams relay placed 4
th overall with a 1:28.99.
Characteristically, Williams blew the NESCAC away in the 1000 freestyle.
Carter Anderson put together an excellent swim in the morning, lowering his own NESCAC record to touch the wall 9:09.54. At night,
Ryan Nunez broke the NESCAC record again, earning his 2
nd NESCAC Title of the meet with a 9:08.20.
Zach Houlton '25 also competed this morning, bumping down many of the evening swimmers to place 5
th overall in 9:21.30. Will Hook '28 came from behind in the back half of the race to out-touch a Tufts swimmer and notch a new best time of 9:21.55 for 6
th. Nye Hanan completed the 5
th top-10 finish for the Ephs, earning 9
th place and dropping 16 seconds to go 9:40.89. "Freshman Will Hook is the fastest ever!" exclaimed first-year diver Ben Lowy following the event.
Similar to the 50 butterfly, the senior pair of
Barrett Heritage '25 and
Noah Labich '25 took the stage for the A-final of the 100 butterfly. Labich reached his best time this morning and lowered his personal best further tonight to place 6
th in 48.77.
Barrett Heritage had a close race, dropping time from this morning to earn All-NESCAC honors in 3
rd with a 48.07.
The 400 IM was the next event.
Nathaniel Tunggal competed in the C-final, overcoming an Amherst competitor in the freestyle to win the heat in 4:02.34.
Henry Campbell recorded a new best time of 4:01.65 this morning, just missing the A-final by 0.03 seconds. After competing in the 1000 this afternoon, the sophomore had a well-executed swim in the B-final to place 13
th overall with a 4:04.67.
Oliver Schalet '25 and
Aidan Lee '27 led the charge for Williams in the A-final. A Middlebury swimmer took off at the start, building a sizeable lead over the Ephs throughout the first 200. Lee and Schalet closed the gap in the breaststroke leg, with Schalet holding the advantage going into the final 100. Schalet put together a stellar freestyle leg to defend his NESCAC title with a time of 3:56.35. Lee was out-touched by the Middlebury swimmer, but earned All-NESCAC honors and closed out the 1-3 finish in 3:58.79.
Swimmers from Hamilton, Amherst, and Bates took the top finishes in the 200 freestyle. For Williams,
Harrison Williams '26 had a speedy back 100 to touch in at 4
th in 1:39.87.
Theo Randall '27 was just behind, dropping time from this morning to secure a 5
th place finish in 1:39.94.
Kevin Whitworth '26 raced in the B-final. The junior was in 4
th at the first 100, but kicked into high gear in the last 50 to win the heat in 1:40.82.
Michael Grover '26 shone for Williams in the A-final, going faster than the morning and placing 5
th with a time of 54.89. In the B-final,
Ian Fournier put together an exceptional swim to stop the clock at 55.69 and earn 11
thplace points for Williams.
Whitman Horton '28 battled in a swim-off against an Amherst junior for a B-final spot. The first-year improved on his time from prelims, but lost the swim-off. In the C-final, Horton went faster than his previous two races of the day, finishing in 18
th with a time of 50.71.
Colin Kavanagh '27 and
Gabe Lee '26 took on the B-final. Kavanagh out-touched a Bowdoin senior to win the heat and record a new best time of 49.94.
Gabe Lee put up a solid 50.36 to finish in 12
th. In the A-final,
Charlie Venci '25 completed a well-executed race to earn All-NESCAC 3
rd place honors with a time of 48.69.
On the diving boards,
Haochen Liu '27 and
Calder Biondi '28 continued their reign at the top of the scoreboard. Liu had beautiful voluntary dives this afternoon to earn the top rank going into the evening. The sophomore won the 3-meter competition to complete his sweep of the diving events with 477.75 points. Biondi was just below, earning the runner-up spot with 470.05 points. The next closest diver from Conn scored 438 points.
The Ephmen will carry the energy into the final day of the meet, looking to defend their NESCAC title and qualify athletes for NCAAs in March. Tomorrow's events will begin at 10 am with the 200 backstroke.
