Day two for the men’s NESCAC championships, and the Ephs have been in top form, building up their small lead over Amherst from yesterday to just shy of 100 points at the end of tonight.
To begin the night, Connecticut college broke the NESCAC, meet and pool records all in one go with a 1:30.38 out of the squad of Michael Fothergill, Kirk Czelewicz, Loring Bowen and Sam Gill in the 200 medley relay. The most impressive split on the relay might have been Bowen’s 21.9 50 fly leg. Second place went to Williams (1:30.77) with third place falling to Amherst (1:32.49). All t hree teams made the NCAA B cut time, but only Williams and Conn made it under the 2013 invited time.
The NESCAC championship has events not normally contested in a championship format, including the 50s of stroke, and the presence of a 1000 as well as the mile. Tonight’s distance event was the 1000, and it went to Chris Gronbeck of Williams in record breaking fashion. Gronbeck’s 9:18.03 broke the meet and pool records. Second place, nearly twelve seconds behind, was Connor Haley, a freshman from Amherst claiming the runner up position in 9:29.95. Third went to Conn freshman Mace Molina (9:33.77).
The next event up was the 400 IM. Timothy Lattimer of Williams and teammate Pete McDonald claimed two of the top threee spots, and both put up NCAA B cuts in the event. Lattimer’s 3:57.81 was good for victory. McDonald’s 4:00.70 earned him a third place finish. Between the teammates fell Amherst’s Jeff Anderson, just under the four minute marker at 3:59.99, to take the runner up position. In the consolation final, Nathan Garner, a freshman from Bowdoin, dropped seven seconds to win the B final and make a B cut with a 4:04.44.
After helping his relay to victory, Gill went back in the water for an individual win, with yet another pool record. His 48.75 broke the record he’d established that morning in prelims at 48.83. Second was Ian MacKay from Middlebury (49.24) and third went to Gill’s teammate Bowen (49.36). All three men had NCAA B cut ttimes, and were under the 2013 invited time as well.
The 200 freestyle was yet another in a string of top three athletes under the NCAA B cut standard. In this one, though, the top five athletes made it under the standard, with Connor Sholtis of Amherst leading the way with a 1:39.10, to win. His final time was .05 off of the pool record established in 1999 by Olympian Ian Crocker, and under the 1:40.13 that was selected for last year’s NCAA meet. Second place went to Conn’s Drew Andre (1:40.44), with Grant Johnson of the Ephs claiming third with a 1:40.55.
In the 100 breaststroke, yet another meet and pool record fell. Jake Tamposi from Williams swam a 55.98 to break the 2004 record of 56.62 set by Pohorylo of Amherst, and the 56.29 meet record established in 2012 by McBratney of Amherst. That time was also just .05 off of the NESCAC record set by McBratney in 2012. Czelewicz was the runner up with a 56.79, and finishing third for Middlebury was Stephen Koenigsberger (57.38). Koenigsberger’s prelims swim (57.28) established a new Middlebury school record erasing the one set in 2005 by Tim Lux (57.66). In the B final, Williams sophomore Jon Yin swam a 57.39 to post a B cut and win the heat.
Gill was back in the water for his third event win in the men’s 100 backstroke. He posted an NCAA B cut time of 48.99, a little slower than the meet record he had established in prelims of 48.84. Second and third place in the event went to Eph freshmen Benjamin Lin and Nathaniel Boley who finished with a 49.33 and 50.11, respectively. The whole top heat of backstroke finished with B cuts.
To close out the second day of the meet, there was the taxing 800 freestyle relay. No records fell, but a number of teams posted more B cut times for the NCAA Meet. Amherst came on to win on the power of Sholtis’ 200, bringing the team from .01 ahead at the 600 mark to finishing almost three tenths in the lead. The final time was 6:46.14 from the team of Jeff Anderson, Nick Egan, Parker Moody and Sholtis. In second was Williams (6:46.49). Third went to Conn (6:48.37). The 2013 invited time was a 6:48.18.
Team scores through event 17:
Williams (1288.5), Amherst (1196), Conn (1133), Tufts (763), Bates (638), Bowdoin (568.5), Middlebury (523), Hamilton (348), Colby (293), Wesleyan (293), Trinity (251)
Prelims resume tomorrow morning at 10 am. Finals commence at 6 pm. Live results may be found here.