Both the Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving teams concluded with sixth place finishes at the NESCAC Championships held February 26-28 for the men and February 19-21 for the women.
The men competed at Williams College where they stumbled a bit after finishing with a fourth place finish in 2009.
The talented Williams men set the pace the entire weekend and easily came away with the NESCAC title. They dominantly outdistanced themselves from second placed Tufts who was closely followed by Amherst, Middlebury and Hamilton rounding out the top five.
Tim Walsh ’12 and Pat Troy ’10 led the Camels as they turned in outstanding performances in the backstroke and butterfly events, respectively. Walsh finished second in both the 50 and 200-meter backstroke and took home the NESCAC title in the 100-meter back. Troy finished second in both the 50 and 100-meter butterfly and fifth in the 200-meter butterfly. Both men have qualified for the 2010 NCAA Division III National Championships held in Minneapolis, MN from March 17-20.
The 200-meter freestyle relay of Troy, Walsh, Brian Finnerty ’10, and Grant Moryan ’10 achieved All-Conference honors with a second place finish and an NCAA ‘B’ Qualifying standard. Other notable performances included the 200 and 400 meter Medley Relays made up of Walsh, Sam Perley ’10, Troy, and Moryan which both finished fourth and achieved NCAA ‘B’ Qualifying standards.
Despite the disappointing performance as a team, Troy was honored at the meet with the senior high point award, which is given to the senior who has scored the most points in the past four years at the NESCAC Championships.
The lady Camels also had their share of outstanding performances at the women’s meet.
The girls finished in sixth place, which was a step up from the seventh place finish they had last year. Again, Williams ran away with the meet followed by Amherst, Middlebury, Tufts and Colby.
The Camels were led by Sarah Murphy ’11 who will be joining Walsh and Troy in Minnesota after automatically qualifying for the NCAA Championships in the 200 meter butterfly with a fifth place finish and an NCAA ‘A’ Qualifying standard. Murphy also added a sixth place finish in the 400 Individual Medley and a seventh place finish in the 200 Individual Medley. Both Murphy’s times in the Individual Medleys were new school records.
Erika Fernandes ’12 had the highest individual placing for the Camels as she snagged a second place finish in the 50-meter freestyle, which also landed her All-Conference honors. Fernandes notched an NCAA ‘B’ Qualifying standard and narrowly missed being invited to the NCAA Championships by a few hundredths of a second.
The ladies also had an All-Conference relay in the 200 Medley Relay, which finished third and was comprised of Jessica Schanzer ’13, Katie Karlson ’13, Leigh Weymouth ’11 and Fernandes. This time was also an NCAA ‘B’ Qualifying standard and was a new school record. In addition, Weymouth set a new school record in the 50-meter butterfly during the meet.
