Men’s Swimming Continues Undefeated Season Over Break
Issue   |   Tue, 01/23/2018 - 22:53

The men’s Swimming and Diving Team continued their undefeated season, posting three wins over the interterm period against Union College, Conn. College and Williams.

A squad of Tristan So ’19, Eric Wong ’19, Sean Mebust ’19, and Jack Koravos ’20 took first in 200-yard freestyle relay, earning 11 points towards the team total. Amherst placed another two teams ahead of their opponents, a trend which continued throughout the day. Amherst took the top three positions in every event, except for the three-yard dive, in which Sam Hoyt placed first.

In the 1,650-yard races, Ang Li ’21 took first in the freestyle, while Craig Smith ’20 took first in the backstroke. In the breaststroke, Elijah Spiro ’18 touched the wall first in the 50 and 100-yard races. The 100-yard backstroke came down to the wire, as Jack Fergus ’20, Sam Spurrell ’18 and Brandon Wang ’20 finished within a second of each other. Fergus, despite competition from his teammates, claimed first for the Mammoths.

The freestyle races also went well for the Mammoths. In the 50-yard freestyle, Koravos took first, while in the 100-yard race, Bobby Meyer ’21 placed first. Spiro took first in the 500-yard race, while Li, Wong Koravos, and Charlie Seltzer ’19 took gold in the 800-yard relay, finishing in just over seven minutes.

Smooth sailing against Union turned to choppier seas as the Mammoths faced off against rivals Williams. Amherst, however, triumphed against the Ephs and set three new Pratt Pool records in the process. Smith, Spiro, Spurrell and Mebust set the new benchmark for the 400-yard freestyle, combining to finish the race in just under three and a half minutes. Smith broke the record in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:52.19, while Mebust finished his 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:04.92. The Mammoths won the meet by a narrow margin of 136-101.

Two weeks later, the Mammoths faced the Conn. College in a NESCAC heavyweight bout in the Jane Cadwell Lott Natatorium. The team maintained their perfect record, rolling over the Camels by a margin of 165 points to 129. This time, the quartet of Smith, Spiro, So and Koravos won the 200-yard freestyle medley. In the other freestyle races, So placed second in the 50-yard free, Wong took second in the 100 and 200-yard freestyle races, Seltzer finished third in the 500-yard free, and Flanagan Waldherr ’21 placed third in the 1,000-yard freestyle.

Smith took home first place in the 100 and 200-yard backstroke races, dominating the Camel competition. Mebust and Spiro won their respective breaststroke races. The Mammoths dominated the diving events, as the Camels did not field any divers.

The Mammoths have a week break before taking the pool again against the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Springfield College on Feb. 3 and 4.