The men’s and women’s swimming teams typically return from winter break with glowing tans and blond highlights from the sunny weather in Puerto Rico, but the new NESCAC travel ban insisted that the Cardinals remain within the bounds of the continental 48 states. Though this year’s alternative, Naples, Fla., is typically one of state’s the warmest areas, the Cardinals arrived during record low temperatures.

“Florida was cold but we still had a good time,” said Darren Thomason ’11. “The weather in Florida was only a little better than it’s been here.”
The Cardinals did not experience the luxuries of an indoor facility—they trained outdoors in the icy water.

“The only other person we saw swimming the entire week was wearing a wetsuit and gloves,” said Thomason.

Before the Cardinals left Middletown for Naples, the men and women raced Trinity. Dually victorious, the men handily defeated Trinity 139-79, the women 120-95. The Wesleyan men have won 28 straight meets against the Bantams, with their last loss coming in 1982, while the Cardinal women have won 22 of the last 25 meets against their in-state foe, dating back to 1987.

The Cardinals survived the unfavorable conditions and a week of training and returned to Middletown on Jan. 16 to face Williams and Tufts in the NESCAC competition. The Cardinal men fell to Williams 226-73 and were also defeated by Tufts 217-82. Even with the tough loss the Cardinal men prepared to host in-state rival Connecticut College the following Saturday. The Cardinals lost a nail-biter to the Camels with a score of 151-143.

Thomason boasted a solid performance for the Cardinals, producing a personal best effort in the 200 breast (2:21.54) to take fourth in the event, a season-best effort in his 100 free leg in the 400 free relay, and a season-best swim in his 50 breast leg in the 200 medley relay (:27.59).

The women’s team also fell to Williams, 174-111, but pulled out a 162-137 victory over Tufts. The Lady Cards were unable to continue their winning ways against Conn. College, however, falling to the Camels 154-144. Cara Colker-Eybel ’13 had an individually productive afternoon against the Camels, posting national “B” cut times in the 200 free (1:55.68) and 100 butterfly (:58.73), potentially enabling her to qualify for the NCAA Division III Championships. Colker-Eybel and the rest of the Cardinals have two more home meets to focus on improving times before the NESCAC Championships.

The men and women face NESCAC rivals Bowdoin and Colby in the first of the final two home meets on Saturday. The meet kicks off at 1 p.m.