Swim and dive prepares for NESCAC Championships at BU meet

This past weekend, the men’s and women’s swimming teams kicked off their championship season at the Boston Winter Open held at Boston University (BU). Although many of the team’s swimmers were not competing as they are preparing for the NESCAC Championships, the Jumbos still put up several top-three finishes in a competitive field that included Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a number of Div. I schools.

Coach Adam Hoyt spoke about his biggest takeaways from the meet and what he expects to see from the team in the coming weeks.

"The BU Open was a great meet for our team," Hoyt said. "Many of our swimmers and divers had lifetime best performances that rank as top-10 all time for our program. It was a great first championship and sets up well for our conference championships."

The Jumbos kicked off the first day of the meet with a number of season-best times. For the men, senior Tim Gronet (21.24) and sophomore Victor Vollbrechthausen (21.35) finished third and fifth respectively in the 50-yard freestyle, trailing the top time by a mere 0.3 seconds. In the 500-yard freestyle, the Jumbos were led by sophomore Paul Schwartz and his fourth place time of 4:43.64,nearly nine seconds faster than his previous season-best.And in the 200-yard IM, junior Connor Doyle utilized his strong breaststroke and freestyle legs to surge ahead of his competitors, ultimately finishing second in a time of 1:54.46.

On the women’s side, sophomore Hannah Spencer (23.94), first-year Katelin Ulmer (24.03) and first-year Hannah Lesser (24.15) put on a sprinting clinic, finishing first, third and fourth respectively in the 50-yard freestyle, with sophomore Emily Payne right behind them for fifth with 24.53.Similarly, the 500-yard freestyle was also dominated by the Jumbos, as junior Emma Seymour (5:08.15), first-year Allison Brea (5:10.29), first-year Liz Sutton (5:10.84) and senior Hannah Truslow (5:14.66) combined for a first through fourth place sweep.In the 200-yard IM, the trio of first-year Tory Atkinson (2:10.78), junior Emily Mendelson (2:12.21) and first-year Bella Preneta (2:13.54) swam to third, fourth and fifth place respectively.

"[Focusing] on rest and fine tuning race strategies and technical aspects of our performances," said Hoyt, talking about how the team was able to find success on the first day of competition.

With momentum squarely in the hands of the Jumbos heading into day two, both the men’s and women’s teams continued to put up fast performances.

Vollbrechthausen finished second in the 200-yard freestyle in a blistering time of 1:41.17, while Gronet finished third at 52.20 in the 100-yard backstroke.In a tightly contested 100-yard freestyle field, first-year Otto Laakso (46.23), Vollbrechthausen (46.84) and junior Noah Zhang (46.91) held their own to ultimately finish third, sixth and seventh respectively.In the 200-yard events, Doyle again used a strong back half to claim second in the backstroke at 1:52.83, while senior co-captain Trevor Serman finished second in the butterfly in 1:52.76. To cap off the individual races, Schwartz showcased his distance prowess by swimming a personal best of 16:27.51 in the 1,650-yard freestyle, enough for a second-place finish.

For the women, junior Katherine Sweetser (57.26) and Lesser (57.82) started things off by finishing fourth and sixth in the 100-yard butterfly, while Mendelson (4:35.91) and Atkinson (4:39.66) formed a dynamic one-two punch by claiming the top spots in the 400-yard IM. Ulmer placed third and second to lead the Jumbos 100-yard and 200-yard breaststrokes, respectively, while Truslow (2:09.48) held her own to finish second in the 200-yard backstroke. Finally, in the 1,650 yard-freestyle, distance aces Brea (17:49.07) and Seymour (17:58.71) capped off the individual contests with yet another one-two finish for the Jumbos.

The Jumbos also dominated the relays, contesting three and nearly sweeping all of them. On day one, the women's team of Ulmer, Lesser, Spencer and Sweetser sprinted to a winning time of 3:32.76 in the 400-yard freestyle relay, while the men’s quartet of Laakso, Gronet, Zhang and first-year Zac Spalding combined for the win in a time in 3:08.23.Day two once again saw the Jumbos finish strong, as the men’s and women’s team secured victories in all but one of the two relays that they contested.

The Jumbos now turn their attention towards the NESCAC Championships. The women's championship meet is this weekend at Middlebury, with the men competing the following weekend at Williams.

With this being her first championship run as a Jumbo, first-year Katelin Isakoff spoke of the expectations she has for herself and the team, as well as the excitement surrounding the meet.

“I’m looking forward to seeing what [our] team can accomplish," Isakoff said. "We have a ton of potential, and I expect [us] to show off all the work we’ve put in thus far. I’m excited for the championship meet energy, and to watch, and hopefully have, some really great swims.”

Fresh off last year’s failed title defense against Williams, the men’s team will surely be determined to prove that they are deserving of the top spot in the NESCAC. For the women’s team, after finishing second last year, the sky's the limit as they aim to surpass its record-finish.

“Both teams are always excited to compete against the best and Williams College has been the best in our conference for many years," Hoyt said. "They've set the standard for NESCAC swimming, and it's a great challenge that brings out the best in our team."