This past weekend featured a packed Wesleyan Natatorium as the men’s swimming and diving team hosted a weekend-long invitational, competing against Brandeis University, MIT, and Keene State from New Hampshire. Looking to rebound after a hard-fought loss to Amherst just before Thanksgiving break, the men’s team managed a second place finish after staving off teams featuring far more swimmers, just some 80-odd points behind the winning Brandeis team. In an invitational, an 80 point margin of victory is tiny, with over 3700 points awarded on the weekend.
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, they were without distance ace Tom Lovett ’08, who has been sidelined by Mononucleosis, as well as several other teammates who had academic commitments. These absences detract from the team’s depth, according to Head Coach Mary Bolich.
“The overall numbers and depth are typically good but it hurt us this weekend.” While Lovett’s presence alone could have decided the match, most swimmers in the competition did not perform up to their capabilities.
“No one swam their best times. If we had swam some of our best times, we would’ve been able to make up enough points for the win,” said co-captain John Haley ’07.
Haley went on to note that after what seemed like a mediocre start though the two draining Saturday sessions, the team came out strong on Sunday.
Though the weekend was indeed strenuous for all involved, the Cardinals nonetheless supplied a number of highlights on the weekend. Diver Dave Wilkinson ’09 provided a boost, winning both the three-meter and one-meter diving events, outclassing his opponents in winning the three-meter event by well over 100 points and taking the 1-meter event by a margin of over 75 points. Distance stalwart Byers tallied 4 wins, including the 200, 500 and 1650 yard Freestyle events as well as the 400 Individual Medley. Byers also swam the 200 Individual Medley and the 200 Butterfly, notching third place finishes in both events, while also contributing fast legs to the winning 4×100 freestyle relay and the second-place 4×200 freestyle relay.
Other highlights included the continued emergence of Dan Storms ’10 as one of the team’s best sprinters. After finishing fourth in the 50-yard freestyle and seventh in the 100, Storms stormed out of the gate and established himself as a force on the men’s team, earning a place on Wesleyan’s top 4×50 freestyle relay team. Look for Storms and his fellow freshman to continue improving and stepping up to become a force in the NESCAC. Though many of the freshmen typically have trouble adjusting to college swimming, Bolich noted the continued development of the young swimmers.
“One of our biggest challenges is learning how to race well tired,” she said. “The freshman now have a better idea of what to expect for the NESCAC championships in February.”
While the team continues to turn in solid early season performances, the team knows that it has a number of areas in which improvement is necessary to compete at the top of the hellacious NESCAC conference. After taking tomorrow off from training, the team will prepare for a meet against a tenacious Trinity team at the natatorium on Saturday, Dec. 9.
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