Dave Wilkinson ’09 shattered team records in the one- and three-meter dives during Saturday’s tri-meet at Connecticut College, earning a trip to the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships in the process. Wilkinson’s efforts capped a successful month-long run for the men’s swimming team, which has won six of its last nine matches, including a sweep of the six-team Cardinal Invitational.

Wilkinson posted scores of 265.13 and 306.98 in the one- and three-meter diving events respectively. His score in the three-meter dive broke the team record of 299.25 set by Abbott Willard in 2002. He was even more dominant in the championship format, posting school-record scores of 456.52 in the one-meter and 520.65 in the three-meter. The previous records were 436.35 in the one-meter and 438.97 in the three-meter, both set by Willard in 2001. As a team, Wesleyan defeated Colby-Sawyer 120-80 but fell to Connecticut College 169-125. The loss against Connecticut was the Cardinals’ third in a row to the Camels; Wesleyan had won the first 18 meetings between the two teams.

The Cardinals had ended 2008 with a sweep of the two-day Cardinal Invitational, which was held Dec. 6-7. Wesleyan’s score of 1050 put it solidly ahead of Hamilton (1050), W.P.I. (767.5), Trinity (582.5), Clark (520), and Cabrini (196). Kuan Huang ’12 secured first-place finishes in the 50-, 100-, and 200-yard breaststroke events, and the Cards also finished first in the 200-yard medley relay and 800-yard freestyle relay. Wesleyan also dominated the diving events: Gianfranco Galluzzo ’12 posted a first-place score of 263.75 in the one-meter dive, and Wilkinson, J.P. Vallette ’10, and Galluzzo finished 1-2-3 in the three-meter dive.

Wesleyan was unable to keep the momentum going in its next meet, however, as the Cardinals fell to Williams 208-79 and Tufts 232-55 in a tri-meet at Williams on Jan. 17. Wilkinson, however, shined again with a first-place score of 277.15 in the three-meter dive. Wilkinson also finished second in the one-meter dive, and Vallette and Galluzzo finished third and fourth, respectively, in both events.

Wesleyan’s next action comes Saturday in a tri-meet against Bowdoin and Colby hosted by Bowdoin. Wesleyan has not lost to Bowdoin in Brunswick since 1993 and has won 14 of its last 15 meets against the Polar Bears; the Cardinals have also defeated Colby 10 of the 12 times the teams have met.