Swimming and diving sets three school records

The men’s varsity swimming and diving team traveled to Bowdoin this weekend to compete against 10 other teams for the NESCAC Championship.  Williams edged Amherst to win the title, followed by Tufts and then the Panthers.
The key contributor all weekend long was Ian MacKay ’14, who in his first college championship meet won both the 50-yard butterfly and 50-yard freestyle with times of 22.31 and 20.60 seconds, respectively.  His success did not end there, however.  Leading off the 200-yard freestyle relay time trial, MacKay set the school record with a split of 20.46 seconds.
“He had the meet of his life,” said Coach Peter Solomon.
“He has a unique combination of power and flexibility that makes him and incredible sprinter.  His two wins on the first day set the tone for the team and for the remainder of the weekend.”
His coach was not the only one raving about his abilities.  Captain and NCAA Champion John Dillon ’11 said, “Ian had an unreal meet and established himself as the fastest Middlebury swimmer of alltime and one of the top swimmers in the country this year.”
The other individual win on the weekend belonged to Dillon, who captured the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 49.36 seconds.  He won the NCAA Division Three Champion in the same event last year, and looks to break his own record later this month.  Dillon was also a key contributor in relays as well, showing his versatility by swimming the backstroke leg in both medley relays.
Relays were a huge part of Middlebury’s success as the corps of MacKay, Dillon, Jay Li ’11, Matt Vukich ’11, Nick Daly ’12, Will Griffin ’12 and Bob Divers ’12 led the Panthers to second place finishes in all four 200- and 400-yard relays.  The Panthers broke the school records in both of the medley relays with times of 1:31.87 in the 200 and 3:22.18 in the 400.
“In preparing for the NCAA Championships, I’m confident that our second- place relay finishes will serve to motivate our guys to work hard in order to turn the tables on rival NESCAC schools in the weeks ahead,” said Solomon enthusiastically.
Mac Staben ’11 also had a handful of very solid performances this weekend.  A former distance swimmer, Staben tried his luck in the butterfly events and placed fifth in the 100 and second in the 200.
On the diving side, Omar Carmical ’13 and Skylar Dallmeyer-Drennen ’14 finished back-to-back with ninth and 10th place finishes in the one-meter event.  Dallmeyer-Drennen went on to finish eighth in the three-meter event with a score of 291.60.
Their intense preparation leading up to the meet paid off, with almost all Middlebury swimmers improving the times they put up during dual-meet season.  The team capitalized on both its strength at the top and its incredible depth.
“This has been a unique season and could have ended up a whole lot differently than it did.  I am proud of our seniors for pulling the team together and keeping everyone together and focused on swimming and diving well,” said Solomon.
A select group of the Panthers will continue training and compete in the NCAA Division Three Championship later this month in Knoxville, Tennessee, where they will look to break even more school (and maybe even national) records. Highlights from last year’s National Championships included Dillon’s win in the 100-yard butterfly, an event he will compete in again later this spring.