Last weekend, the men’s swimming and diving team headed up to the frozen north intent on putting an exclamation point on a fine season at the NESCAC championship. Held at Bowdoin, the three-day meet featured spectacular performances from a number of Wesleyan swimmers.
Day one was all about the sprinters. In the morning, the Cards turned in solid performances in every 50-yard event, earning spots in the final heats. That evening in the finals, the team got the ball rolling with a school record in the 200 free relay, breaking the old record set just years ago. Thanks to incredibly quick splits by Dan Storms ’10, Mike Pepi ’08, Chris Becker ’09, and Jeff Stein ’08, the team finished in 1:25.14, good for the school record.
“We’ve had our eyes on that record since the very first meet, so it felt great to break it,” Becker said.
Pepi followed up the school-record swim by winning the consolation final of the 50-yard freestyle, after just missing out on making the finals.
“I was very disappointed not to make the finals, so I made it my business to at least win the consol heat,” he said.
Pepi swam the race in 21.57 en route to achieving his goal. Other notable first day performances include both Becker and Stein making the nighttime heats in two events apiece and a fine swim from butterflyer Jae Lee ’10 in the 50 fly.
Diver Dave Wilkinson ’09 earned a fifth-place on the one-meter board. In the 500 freestyle, Ben Byers ’07 also turned in a fifth-place performance, fast enough for a provisional NCAA qualifying time.
On day two, the Cards’ distance swimmers got their chance to shine, starting with a thrilling performance by Seth Murphy ’09 in the 400 individual medley. By cutting an incredible 20 seconds off of his seed time, Murphy clawed his way into the top eight, finishing seventh in the finals as well.
“I knew back in September that I could make top eight if I trained hard enough,” Murphy said. “Swimming in the finals was an awesome experience. The stands get so loud, and there’s so much excitement in the air, there’s no way you can’t get that adrenaline flowing.”
Not to be outdone, distance ace Byers ensured his fourth consecutive year as an All-NESCAC performer by finishing second in the 1000 freestyle. In his career, Byers has never finished lower than third at NESCACs in races of 1000 yards or longer.
Other day two highlights came when Stein won the bonus consolation heat of the 100 breaststroke with a lifetime best, and also when Storms and Ryan Beck ’10 finishing 1-2 in the bonus consolation heat of the 200 freestyle.
Day three featured the team’s strongest performances, particularly in the 1650, the 100 freestyle and the 200 fly. Byers once again showed why he is considered one of the best swimmers in the country, turning in a time in the mile-long freestyle race that should send him to nationals for the fourth consecutive year.
Pepi and Becker combined for another set of incredible swims, this time in the 100 freestyle, as both turned in personal best times with Becker winning the consolation final in 47.54 seconds.
“I knew I had to hang on to my spot to maximize my points for the team and going 47.5 has been a goal for me for a long time, so I’m very happy with the swim,” Becker said.
Murphy continued to shine by dropping a 2:01.3 to win the bonus consolation heat of the 200 fly, continuing his impressive meet. Even Wilkinson got into the mix, posting a seventh place finish in the three-meter diving event.
These Cardinal swimmers, however, chose to save the best for last, as they turned in perhaps their best performance of the weekend in the final event of championship.
After posting the 200 free relay record, they set their sights on the 400 record. With a strong leadoff swim by Storms and an excellent second leg from Stein, the Cards used insanely quick splits from Becker and Pepi to power home a new school record of 3:09.77 (breaking a record set in 1993).
“It just shows that the speed of this team can hang with the best Wes has ever seen,” Pepi said.
After all the smoke had cleared, Wesleyan had turned in a seventh place finish, though it is worth noting that the gap between seventh and eighth was 210 points while the gap between seventh and sixth was only 98.
Wesleyan’s strong performances at NESCACs, especially from some of the younger swimmers in the program, suggest there will be strong Cardinal squads for years to come. In the meantime, watch out for Byers as he makes his fourth consecutive trip to nationals in an attempt to close out his illustrious career with All-American honors.
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