Nov 23, 2013
This is only the second meet of MIT’s season, yet the men are off to a tremendous start. On Saturday at Bowdoin College, the MIT men defeated their hosts (215-82) as well as conference foe, Babson College (240-57). Over the course of the meet, MIT took first in 13 of the 17 events. To display depth as well as front end speed, the Engineers went 1-2-3 in eight events, and taking first through fourth in three of those.
What’s the right way to begin a meet of total dominance? With a 1-2 victory in the 200 medley relay. On MIT’s A relay were sophomore Bo Mattix, senior Michael Liao, sophomore Sean Corcoran and junior Austin Fathman. Their relay took first in 1:34.65, followed by a 1:37.88 from the B relay, a team made up of sophomore Alex Lednev, freshman Alexander Luh, sophomore Luke Schlueter, and junior Ben Bauchwitz.
MIT dominance continued in the 200 freestyle, as the men took first second and third. It was a close race between Michael Lu (1:46.03) and Remy Mock (1:46.13), with Daryl Neubeiser winning the touch out over Bowdoin’s swimmer for third (1:47.05).
The Engineers left their 100 backstroke to the might of the sophomore class. Mattix finished first in 52.01, followed by Brad Jokubaitis (52.43), Ledev (53.10) and Corcoran (53.32) rounding out the field for the top four spots. Later, Mattix captured the 200 backstroke title as well, in 1:55.74. Breaststroke specialist Liao swept the breaststroke events, taking the 100 in 57.74 and the 200 in 2:07.19, respectively. That 100 breaststroke time is a NCAA B cut. Teammates Luh and Bauchwitz took second and third in that same event, in 59.24 and 1:00.19, respectively.
Thomas Norris and classmate Schlueter battled it out in the 200 butterfly for first. Ultimately, Norris got his hand on the wall quicker, taking the top time with a 1:55.10 while Schlueter settled for second in 1:55.80.
The Engineer sprinters kicked it up a notch, led by Fathman who took first with a 21.77. He was followed by Neubeiser (22.13) and Michael Chen (22.34). Shortly thereafter, Fathman took his second event win in the 100 freestyle, leading a first through fourth showing by the MIT sprinters. Neubeiser was again second (48.26), Chen third (49.35) and Michael Everett took fourth (49.47) while swimming exhibition.
After the sprinters were done having their fun, the distance kids came out to play. Norris lead the charge in the 500 freestyle with a 4:47.63 effort. Lu took second with a 4:50.45, followed by John Matthews in third at 4:54.74 and Tim Wall rounded out the group in fourth with a 4:57.04.
To finish out the meet, the MIT Engineers sent out an A, a B and a C 400 freestyle relay, which went 1-2-3 (C relay swam exhibition). Fatham, Bauchwitz, Mock and Neubeiser made up the A relay, which touched in 3:11.36. Chen, Everett, Lu and Liao comprised the B relay, finishing in 3:16.10. MIT’s exhibition relay was Luh, Alexander Lednev, Wall and Norris, and finished at 3:16.45.
For complete meet results, click here.
Look for the Engineers to return to the water on Saturday, December 6th and 7th for the MIT Winter Invitational. MIT will host a slew of other teams in their Zesiger Center Pool for the three-session meet.