The men’s swimming and diving team opened their season on Saturday, Nov. 21 with a decisive victory over NESCAC foe Colby and followed up their impressive opener with another conference victory against Wesleyan.

In their meet against Colby, the purple and white picked up their first win by way of a 147-119 score. The team took first place in 11 total events to earn the victory.

Matt Heise ’16 took first place in two individual events to help lead Amherst. He notched a time of 53.19 in the 100-yard backstroke and placed first again in the 200-yard backstroke clocking in at 1:58.28.

Heise also contributed to a medley first-place finish, along with teammates first-year Charlie Seltzer, Elijah Spiro ’18 and Alex Dreisbach ’17. They finished the 200-yard medley relay in 1:37.29.

In the sole distance race of the meet, the 1000-yard freestyle, Connor Haley ’17 placed first with a time of 10:09.5
First-year Chris Quinones picked up his first collegiate win and gained nine points for the purple and white. He finished the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:48.25.

Fellow first-year Kaison Ifill also contributed a first-place finish for Amherst. He posted a 21.40 time in the 50-yard freestyle.
Rounding out the strong showings from the class of 2019 was Josh Chen, who took first in the 100-yard breaststroke.

Other first-place finishers for Amherst were Sam Spurrell ’18 in the 200-yard butterfly (1:55.15) and Dreisbach in the 100-yard freestyle (49.24).

After the impressive weekend performance, Amherst utilized the momentum the following Monday against Wesleyan. They swept 10 events over the Cardinals en route to the victory.

The 200-yard medley group of Heise, Seltzer, Spiro and Dreisbach again took first improving on their time against Colby, finishing in 1:35.76.

Dreisbach against took first in the 100-yard free, and was followed closely behind by Jeff Andersen ’16 who took second with a time of 48.53.

In addition to his first-place finish in the medley, Heise took first in two individual events. He finished the 50-yard backstroke in 24:52.19 and claimed gold in the 100-yard breaststroke (51:89.9).

Ifil and Dreisbach finished back to back in the 50-yard freestyle with times of 21.24.9 and 21.70 respectively.

Greg Han ’17 was the only purple and white swimmer to finish in the top three in the 100-yard backstroke. He took first place with a mark of 59.96.

Amherst will compete in Pratt Pool for the first time this 2015-16 season in their season opener this Saturday, Dec. 15. They’ll face an 0-2 Middlebury team. Amherst took last year’s meet by a score of 203-77.