The 2005-2006 season looks to be an exciting one for the Wesleyan University Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving teams.
The Men’s team is looking ready for a breakout season and will be led by Ben Byers ’07, who set school records last year in the 500, 1000 and 1650 freestyle events. He also made Division III Nationals in the 1650 freestyle and placed fifth at the meet, garnering him All-American honors. Another top returning athlete for the Cardinals in the long-distance swimming events is Co-captain Rob Mitchell ’06, who swam 16:23 last year in the 1650 freestyle, allowing him to make the NCAA ‘B’ cut. Also returning is backstroke phenomenon Will Hasty ’08 who as a freshman set school records in the 50, 100 and 200 backstrokes. Josh Tanz ’06, school record holder in the 200 butterfly with a time of 1:55.0, comes back for one last season, as does Co-captain Ben Devine ’06, who last year swam a school record of 26.9 seconds in the 50-breaststroke event.
Last year, Hasty, Devine and Tanz helped the Cardinals to a school record in the 200 Medley Relay with a time of 1:36.1, a record they hope to break again this year with the help of butterfly specialists Matt Donne and Luke Schleusener.
The Women’s team is also looking very strong this year. Captain Stephanie Lasby ’06 and sophomores Amanda Shapiro ’05 and Katie Krems ’05 will lead the Lady Cards this year. Shapiro broke the school records in the 50, 100 and 200 breaststroke with times of 31.1, 1:06.8 and 2:27.1 respectively, and hit the NCAA ‘B’ cut in the 100 breaststroke. She also set a school record and hit the ‘B’ cut in the 400 Individual Medley with a time of 4:37.5. Krems set records in the 50 and 100 butterfly with times of 26.4 and 58.4 seconds, and hit the ‘B’ cut in the 100 butterfly. They teamed up to help set school records in all five relay events. The Cardinals set records in the 200 Free Relay (1:41.0), the 400 Free Relay (3:36.4), 800 Free Relay (7:55.1), 200 Medley Relay (1:49.0) and 400 Medley Relay (3:59.3), hitting the NCAA ‘B’ cut in the last three of those events. This year again looks promising for the relays, especially the 200 and 800 Free Relay teams, which return three of their four members from last year.
Both teams are excited to begin the season. Mary Bolich, in her sixth year, coaches both squads. She has helped build an impressive program here, as shown by the many school records set in recent years and the higher level of recruits now deciding to attend Wesleyan University. She will be with her fellow coaches, Mollie Parrish (Assistant Coach) and Jeff Miller (Diving Coach), and their athletes as they all travel north to open the season at Bates College on Saturday.
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