Amherst Swim Teams Outlast Springfield; Women Finish Perfect

February 5, 2007

The Amherst Swimming and Diving teams emerged victorious from their meets at Springfield College Saturday by scores of 130.5-105.5 and 141-102 for the women and men respectively. The meets marked the conclusion of the regular season for both sides.

After Springfield honored both team’s seniors in the final dual meets of their careers, the women started out strong with a 1-2 finish in the 200 medley relay. First-year Anna Haring (Santa Barbara, CA) continued her impressive debut season, finishing first in the 1000 freestyle before sophomore Meaghan Stern (Albuquerque, NM) took the 200 freestyle with a strong ‘B’ cut for NCAA championships as the Jeffs reeled off wins in ten of the eleven swimming events. Stern would go on to win her second individual event of the day in the 100 freestyle before anchoring the winning 400 freestyle relay which concluded the meet. Junior Brittany Sasser (Belmont, MA) completed her undefeated dual meet season with wins in both the 200 backstroke and 200 IM. The other Jeff event winners on the women’s side were sophomore Mary Marvel (Williamsburg, MA) in the 50 freestyle and senior co-captains Piper Pettersen (Kirkland, WA) in the 200 butterfly and Margaret Ramsey (Belmont, MA) in the 500 freestyle.

On the men’s side, Springfield took an early lead with wins in the 200 medley relay by a team led by junior All-American Roy Burch, and the 1000 freestyle by senior Paul McCloskey in a hard fought win over Amherst sophomore Christian Witzke (Jacksonville, FL), but the Jeffs righted the ship with wins in nine of the remaining eleven events. Junior Andrew Maslan (Mission Hills, KS) got the ball rolling with his win in the 200 freestyle before first-year Tad Homchick’s (Mercer Island, WA) victory in the 50 freestyle. Senior captain Ethan Treat (Newton, MA) won both of his events, the 200 IM and the 200 butterfly, in the next stretch of the meet. After Springfield’s Burch delivered a dominant performance in the 100 freestyle, Amherst sophomore Mike Waskom (Wilton, CT) responded with a thrilling victory in the 200 backstroke before Witzke took the 500 freestyle in another close race with Springfield’s McCloskey. Senior captain John Ancona (Lake Forest, IL) finished up the individual events for the day with a win in the 200 breaststroke. In the diving events, Junior Connor Boyd (Northridge, CA) continued his impressive performance of late with wins on both the one and three meter, solidifying his candidacy for a spot in the Nationals in March.

The women concluded their dual meet season with a perfect 8-0 record while the men finished at 6-2 for the year. Both teams return to competition for NESCAC championships, with the women competing at Williams College from February 16-18 and the men swimming at Bowdoin College February 23-25.

WOMEN'S FULL RESULTS

MEN'S FULL RESULTS