The men’s swimming team swept the Bates Bobcats 134-90 in its first meet of the season on Saturday. Giving the Cardinals another reason to celebrate was Ben Byers ’07, who broke the Cardinals’ 1000m freestyle record with his first place finish in a time of 9:40:13.
“I think it was an excellent start to the season. We all did well, and we beat a solid team by a good margin, it gave us a good view of how we’re standing in terms of NESCAC,” Byers said.
The Cardinals took first place finishes in the 200 Medley Relay of Andres Villalon ’04, Aaron Smith ’07, Josh Tanz ’06 and Tom Cleveland ’05 with a time of 1:43.28. Dan Devine won the 200m with a time of 1:49.63, Cleveland won the 50m freestyle with a time of 22.46, Byers won the 200 IM with a time of 2:05.52, Tanz won the 100m butterfly with a time of 54.79, Devine won the 100m freestyle with a time of 49.37, Byers won the 500m freestyle with a time of 4:48.96, Tanz, Devine, Will McCue ’06 and Cleveland won the 400m freestyle relay with a time of 3:19.21.
“Bates was a great way to start off our season. We went up to Maine focused and poised and returned home with confidence for the rest of our season,” said Mosah Fernandez-Goodman ’04.
Perhaps the Cardinals’ wings were still tired from their record-setting weekend, or perhaps the Lord Jeffs just gave the Cardinals much more than they could handle on Nov. 24th at home. The Cardinals only put up three first place finishes throughout the entire meet and dropped to the Lord Jeffs, 73.5-156.5. In the 1000m freestyle, Byers recorded another first place victory and set another record with a time of 9:42.95. In the 500m freestyle Byers recorded another first place with a time of 4:47.23.
In diving, Eric Altneu took first in both the 1-meter and the 3-meter, scoring 160.35 and 146.03 respectively.
“Without a couple of recovering and missing swimmers, I think we really could have given Amherst a scare. They are a great team, maybe the best dual meet team in our league, and we still kept the score as close as it has been in recent memory,” said Byers “A lot of guys stepped up and had great swims, and doing that well against a team that good is a huge confidence booster.”
“I definitely think we will move up in the NESCAC ranks this year and will surprise many teams that did not expect us to step up the way we have been,” said Andres Villalon ’04. “Already some records have been broken and I feel that it is just the beginning for us! It’s definitely going to be an exciting season.”
The Cardinals have the confidence, strength and depth to give the NESCAC teams a run for their money and will spend this week preparing to take on last year’s NESCAC men’s swimming and diving champions the Williams College Ephs. The Cardinals are looking forward to the Williams meet at Freeman on December 5th.
“Hopefully we’ll continue this season as strongly as we started it, said Byers, ”Our next meet is at home against Williams, and, honestly, we don’t stand much of a chance, but hopefully we can keep it as close as the Amherst meet, and hopefully go the rest of the year without losing a dual meet.“
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