Swimmers set school records at NESCACS

The men’s swimming and diving team swam into fourth place with a total of 1,029 points in the 2010 NESCAC Championship this past weekend at Williams College.  Williams came in first with 1,937 points, Tufts followed with 1,452 points and Amherst finished in third with 1,352 points.

“In swimming, you kind of know the elite teams, which teams have the best swimmers, the deepest lineups, etc. We weren’t one of these teams,” said John Dillon ’11. “Every year, it’s Williams, Amherst and Tufts. This weekend, we absolutely crushed every single other team and we’re about to take that success to nationals in March.”

The team was overjoyed with its success this weekend, as many observers did not expect Middlebury to place higher than seventh. Middlebury moved up two places from where it finished last year, and it left many other NESCAC teams in its wake.

“Everyone was feeding off of each other’s energy at the meet this weekend,” said Dillon.

All the swimmers supported and motivated each other, and everyone performed to their utmost potential the entire weekend.

“This weekend was by far the most amazing meet of my four years here at Middlebury,” added co-captain Schuyler Beeman ’10. “Not only did everyone swim well, we were all having so much fun and celebrating after every race our team had.”

In all, seven varsity records were broken: Dillon broke the 50- and 100-meter backstroke as well as the 100-meter butterfly; Beeman broke the 50-yard freestyle; and the 200-freestyle relay, the 400-medley relay and 400-freestyle relay also all broke the varsity record.

The 400-freestyle team also broke the varsity record. The team, comprised of Beeman, Dillon, Bob Divers ’12 and Nick Daly ’12, also broke the pool, meet and NESCAC records, finishing with a time of 3:01.12, which puts the team at second in the country.

Although Middlebury’s 200-freestyle team was disqualified in the finals, it qualified Sunday evening in a time trial and is currently ranked third in the country.  The team, consisting of Beeman, Divers, Jay Li ’12 and Daly, set a new school record with a time of 1:22.26.  Also nationally-ranked is Beeman’s 50-yard freestyle at sixth and Dillon’s 100- and 200-butterfly times, which are both in first place.

Dillon’s success this weekend helped make him the 2010 NESCAC Swimmer of the Year.  Head Coach Peter Solomon also was voted 2010 NESCAC Coach of the Year.

There were many other impressive individual accomplishments throughout the meet.  Mac Staben ’11 had a particularly strong weekend, placing fifth in the 1,000-freestyle and sixth in the mile. Kevin Glatt ’12 also had his first top-16 finish in the 200-yard butterfly, and Divers surprised everyone with his swimming in his freestyle and backstroke races.

Many individuals on the men’s team have qualified for NCAAs and are now looking foward to the opportunity to compete at the national level.  The team continues to practice and hone its skills until the culmination of the season in Minneapolis, Minn, from March 17-20.