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Men’s swimming competed in the NESCAC Championships this past weekend, finishing the four-day meet in 11th place of the 11 teams. The Red and Black traveled to chilly Middlebury for the event. Williams took the top honor, its 17th NESCAC title, with 1,822 points, while Tufts was close behind with 1,775.5 points. Amherst rounded out the top three with 1,506 points.
Many Cardinals set personal bests in the meet. On the first day, one Wesleyan relay team (Jeffrey Haegelin ’22, Jared Christopher ’22, Max Wimer ’19, and Nicolas Moran ’21) touched the wall in 7:19.90 which was good for 11th place overall. The other team, composed of Andrew Schwartz ’20, Garrett Kaufmann ’21, Julian DeMann ’22, and Evan Sullivan ’21, clocked in at 7:35.70. Williams won the lone event of the day, the 800-yard freestyle relay, clocking in at 6:34.03. The time was a NESCAC, meet, and pool record, as well as an NCAA B-cut consideration time.
On the second day of competition, six Cardinals set personal bests. Sophomore Nicolas Moran made it into the pre-consolation final in the evening session, finishing the race in just 23.94. The 200-yard freestyle relay (Eren Kiris ’19, Wimer, Kaufmann, and Schwartz) clocked in at 1:30.88, earning another 11th-place finish.
Junior Alan Huh recorded a personal best in the 50-yard breaststroke with a time of 29.65. In the 50-yard butterfly, Haegelin touched the wall in 25.26, placing 32nd in the preliminary round. Haegelin also recorded a personal best time in the 200-yard butterfly, finishing in 1:59.39. Schwartz clocked in at 26.85 in the 50-yard butterfly, recording a personal best mark. Christopher finished in 5:01.46 in the 500-yard free, earning 39th place.
DeMann and sophomore Joel Groves tied their personal best time in the 50-yard free, clocking in at 24.80 and 25.62, respectively. Groves recorded 197.10 points off the 1-meter board. During the 100-yard butterfly time trial, Sullivan recorded a personal best time, touching the wall in 58.32. The 400-yard medley relay composed of Kiris, Huh, Moran, and Haegelin clocked in at 3:49.28, which was good for 11th place.
The third day of action saw many Cardinals battle for positions on the leaderboard. Christopher came in 20th place in the 1000-yard freestyle, recording a personal best time of 10:02.89. This time was nearly 10 seconds faster than his previous personal record. The 200-yard medley relay team composed of Kaufmann, Huh, Moran, and Kiris raced to an 11th place finish, touching the wall in 1:39.17. Haegelin recorded a personal best time in the 100-yard butterfly, clocking in at 52.84. Kiris also recorded a personal best time in the 100-yard backstroke, clocking in at 57.52.
Personal records continued to shatter on the final day of competition, with a few outstanding performances across the board (and pool). In the 200-yard butterfly, Haegelin broke the two-minute mark, clocking in at 1:57.65. The time was a personal best for Haegelin. Groves and Charlie Vogel ’21 dove to personal best scores off the 3-meter board, with marks of 184.65 points and 159.85 points, respectively. Christopher recorded a personal best time in the 1,650-yard freestyle, clocking in at 17:18.10. Personal best times came from Kaufmann (49.87), Kiris (51.15), DeMann (51.87), and Isaac Thorman ’21 (52.78) in the 100-yard freestyle. Huh and Sullivan recorded personal records in the 200-yard breaststroke, finishing in 2:16.53 and 2:23.83, respectively.
The Sunday evening events ended the team’s 2018-2019 season, closing out an overall disappointing effort since November. The men’s team has recorded no victories this season, both against competitive NESCAC teams or in matchups outside the conference. The NESCAC Championship concludes the Red and Black competition, with no members of the team advancing to the NCAA Championship next month.
Nicholas Keating can be reached at nkeating@wesleyan.edu.