The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams opened their seasons in style last Saturday as both squads dominated Bates by respective scores of 174-108 and 155-141. The women had an especially impressive day as Amanda Shapiro ’08 participated in the smashing of a relay record and set one of her own in just her second race as a Cardinal.
For her phenomenal performance on Saturday, CollegeSwimming.com named Shapiro its National Collegiate Swimmer-of-the-Week.
On the men’s side, Ben Byers ’07 picked up right where he left off last season and emerged victorious in his long distance races. He also won the 200-yard individual medley, a new event for him.
On Monday, the swimmers traveled to Amherst, where the men’s and women’s teams fell to the Jeffs 154-119 and 155-118, respectively. Several Cardinals did well, as Shapiro eclipsed three more marks, setting an Amherst pool record in the process. Kate Krems ’08 set a fourth record on the day.
Before the Bates meet began, the team held a brief ceremony commemorating Byers’ All-America Honorable Mention performance last season. Byers received a plaque detailing his performance in the 1650-yard freestyle from head coach Mary Bolich before the capacity crowd.
From then on, it seemed the Cards could do no wrong. In the very first women’s event, the 200-yard medley relay team of co-captain Mikki Columbus ’05, Shapiro, Krems and Joanna Tice ’07 shattered the University record for the event in a time of 1:51.78, nearly 2.5 seconds faster than the previous record set five years ago. Another frosh, Diane Chen won the 1000-yard freestyle and was the top Cardinal finisher in the 500-yard freestyle. Columbus continued her steady performance through the years as she won both of her backstroke races and was part of the victorious 200-yard freestyle relay team with Tice, Eliza Jones ’07 and Lauren Goldman ’08, yet another stellar frosh.
But the star of the day was Shapiro. The breaststroke specialist swam the 100 in 1:07.40, surpassing the previous mark by nearly a full second. Her time in the 200 was just eight tenths of a second behind the current standard. Despite finishing second in the 200-yard individual medley, Shapiro’s 2:14.38 clip still set a Wesleyan record.
“I was aware that I had broken those records when I got out of the pool,” Shapiro, said. “I had looked at that record board every day at practice since the beginning of the year.”
Concerning the relay record, she said it would not have been possible without the rest of her team.
Krems also looks to be a burgeoning star in the making as her times in the butterfly events proved key in setting up the triumph. Suzy Morrison ’07 and Jessica Houghton ’08 both performed well in the diving competitions, finishing third and fourth.
The men lacked the spectacular record-setters of the women’s squad, but they more than made up for it in pure consistency. They dominated the 200-yard medley relay as frosh Will Hasty ’08 and Jeff Stein ’08, along with captains Josh Tanz ’06 and Tom Cleveland ’05, finished three seconds ahead of the next best competitor. In the 200-yard freestyle, Rob Mitchell ’06 and Dan Devine ’06 finished first and second, and newcomers Hasty and Stein proved they are of high caliber by winning their first two individual races.
The most spectacular Cardinal performance of the day for the men was made in the 50-yard freestyle, in which Cleveland, Devine, Mike Pepi ’08 and Tanz took the top four spots, finishing within eight tenths of a second of each other. Also impressive was the 200-yard individual medley, in which Byers, Stein and Mitchell finished first, second and third within two seconds of each other.
“Mike Molina [’07] had what was possibly the best, and most inspiring, swim of the weekend,” Byers said. “His time in the 100 free, though he lost to a Bates swimmer, was only two-tenths of a second off his best time tapered, an amazing achievement for a sprinter.”
Though exhausted and exhilarated from an outstanding Saturday, the teams headed to Amherst Monday for another meet. This time the results would not be as strong.
The women again received strong performances from the frosh class. Shapiro broke the 50-yard breaststroke record by fifteen hundredths of a second (31.39), giving her the marks for all three distances in the stroke. In the very next race, Krems swam the 50-yard fly in 27.67 seconds, good for third place and the Wesleyan record in the event.
Chen had strong performances in the long distance freestyle events and the 200-yard freestyle relay. Also worth noting is that Shapiro’s time of 4:37.56 in the 400-yard individual medley set two records. It is the new University mark as well as the record for the Amherst College pool. She also broke her own record in the 100-yard breaststroke, blazing through the race in 1:07.12.
“I didn’t realize I broke the Amherst pool record until some of my teammates pointed it out to me after my race,” she said.
The men were again a very consistent group. Hasty continued to prove himself a quality backstroker, winning the 50 in 26.15 seconds and finishing a close second in the 100. Byers again dominated the 500 and 1000 freestyle events, with Mitchell and Sean McClellan ’07 close on his heels. In the 200-yard freestyle relay, Dominik Heynen ’05, Tanz, Cleveland and Devine won easily in 1:28.60.
It is difficult to believe that just two years ago this was one of the NESCAC’s worst programs. But the quality of the last two classes has had Wes zooming up in the rankings.
“The team looks to be as strong as it has been in Mary Bolich’s tenure as head coach and may be poised to move into the upper echelon of NESCAC teams,” Byers said. “Amherst lost a number of potent performers, and this may be the year that we are finally able to move out of the Little Three basement.”
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