The men’s swim team’s exciting season came to a fitting end this weekend, as the Cardinals took fourth out of 10 teams at the NESCAC Championship, held at Williams College. Leading the Cardinals throughout the weekend was Ben Byers ’07, who had three All-NESCAC performances in the long-distance freestyle events. All-NESCAC Honors are reserved for those swimmers who place in the top three of an individual event. Considering the strength of the NESCAC in swimming, earning even one All-NESCAC award is quite a feat.
Byers earned all-NESCAC distinctions in each event he competed in. Byers began his weekend on Friday by taking third place in the 500-yard freestyle, an event Byers says is too short for him, in a time of 4:36.87. He then proceeded to come back the next day and crush the field in the 1000-yard freestyle, swimming away from the pack and hitting the wall at 9:30.90.
By Sunday Byers was tired, but he still managed to swim All-American Steven Spinelli of Williams all the way to the wall in the 1650-yard freestyle, losing a heartbreaker 15:49.60 to 15:50.62. The race between Byers and Spinelli was dazzling, as the two dominant swimmers swam shoulder to shoulder for the first 1500 meters of the race. Spinelli gained his small margin of victory in the final 150 yards of the race, by which time the two had lapped the entire field of their championship heat.
Although the loss was frustrating for Byers, he still has another meet to redeem whatever bitterness he has over his defeat. At the Division III National Championships, held March 7-9 at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Byers may get a rematch against his NESCAC rival, depending on what event Spinelli chooses to swim.
Although Byers was the most successful Cardinal, there were other highlights for the team. Josh Tanz ’06 swam a great final race of his Wesleyan career, setting a new school record in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:54.66. The time earned him a fifth place finish at the meet. Tanz’s other races also went well, as he narrowly missed All-NESCAC honors in both the 50 and 100-yard butterfly events. Tanz finished fourth in each of these races, swimming times of 23.36 and 51.32 seconds respectively.
A pleasant surprise for the Cardinals this weekend was Dave Wilkinson’s ’09 breakthrough performance at the tournament. Wilkinson placed fourth in the one-meter diving event with a score of 372.25 and fifth in the three-meter diving event with a score of 361.35. Wilkinson crushed his preliminary performances in both of his finals and provided some unexpected points for the meet.
With the conclusion of the conference meet, the season is now over for most of the Cardinals. For seniors such as Tanz (if his ‘B’ Cut times do not get him into the Nationals field) and Rob Mitchell, it is the passing of an era. For the younger athletes, it is merely the start of a well-deserved rest.
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