WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. - The Eph men fell to Conn College this afternoon by only 3 points, marking a difficult loss for the team. The team will next compete on Friday 1/23 at MIT versus MIT and NYU.
The meet opened with a nail biting race in the 200 medley relay. The Camels claimed first with a 1:34.56, edging the Ephs by .26 seconds. The team of
Gabe Lee,
Michael Grover,
Harrison Williams and
Theo Randall put together a solid swim, but didn't quite have enough to win.
The mile was swum by Mike Ma and
Henry Campbell who touched in 2nd and 4th respectively. Mike Ma posted a really consistent swim, splitting 1:00 for each 100 throughout the entire race. Nye Hanan and
Kevin Whitworth also touched 2nd and 4th in the next event, the 200 freestyle. Hanan got out touched by only 6 hundredths of a second by Conn's Aiden Miller. He posted a strong 1:44.12.
Gabe Lee got second in the 100 backstroke, with a 52.59. But, he came back stronger in the 200 backstroke with a first place finish in a time of 1:54.65.
Michael Grover took first in the 100 breaststroke, almost dipping under the 58 second mark. He was followed by
Hugh Henry in 3rd place with a 1:00.10.
Ryan Nunez took the 200 butterfly in 1:51.45 after Grover's victory in the 100 breaststroke, creating some momentum for the Eph men. Right before the first break of the meet was the 50 freestyle, where
Theo Randall,
Mason Green and
Kai Batchelor got 2nd, 3rd and 4th. Again, the Eph men just didn't have enough to touch first and claim the 9 points.
On the diving side of things,
Calder Biondi won the 3M board by over 50 points, and got second place on 1M.
Haochen Liu placed 3rd on 1 M.
The 100 freestyle was also claimed by Conn College, but
Theo Randall took 2nd with a 47.28. Sam Brozek was right behind in 3rd in a 47.49. In the 200 breaststroke, the Ephs got 2nd and 3rd as well.
Kevin Jiang finished in 2nd, and
Hugh Henry took 3rd.
The 500 freestyle was an exhilarating race to the bitter end.
Vincent Kim raced hard to 2nd place, turning on the jets in the last 150 yards. 2nd, 3rd and 4th place were separated by only 0.5 seconds, showing how tight this field was.
Ryan Nunez took the 100 fly in 51.03. From the outside lane, teammate and classmate
Mason Green touched second in a 52.04. It was an exhilarating last 25 yards where Green put his head down and raced hard until he touched the wall. In the 200 IM, Nunez took the blocks again but touched second to Conn.
The Eph men were struggling to touch first today, which ultimately decided the meet despite their depth. There were some exceptionally close races today, which made for a loud and exhilarating competition. Captain
Harrison Williams had a few things to say following today's close loss: "This was a tough loss but the team will learn a lot from it and we are excited to finish the season strong."
As Williams said, the Eph men have a lot to look forward to with upcoming dual meets and the NESCAC Championship meet in just over 1 month. They will look to turn the page following today's tight competition, and put their best foot forward in the coming weeks.
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