By Kelley Baylis, Swimming World College Intern
NORTON – The New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) swimming teams put out some great swims this past week with more close meets coming up in the future. Frederick Garneau, Alyssa Pascuzzo, Christian Brindamour, and Cathleen Pruden produced some memorable swims. The teams in this conference include Babson, Clark, Coast Guard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Mount Holyoke, Smith, Springfield, Wellesley, Wheaton, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI).
LOOKING BACK
Springfield College hosted a tri-meet with Wheaton College and Keene State. Springfield men defeated Wheaton, 154-144, and lost to Keene, 198-100. The women’s team also beat Wheaton, 200-94, but lost to Keene, 160-138. Coast Guard took a loss against WPI, 173.5-120.5, and Providence College, 198.5 -90.5, on the women’s side, while the men won against Providence, 175-109, but lost to WPI, 171-123.
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (MIT)
MIT has two upcoming conference meets. Its first against Wellesley College is on November 21, then another meet the following day against Babson College with non-conference foe Bowdoin College. With the success of the Engineers thus far in the season, they will undoubtedly show some impressive times in the meets to come. The women’s team has shown impeccable strength in the mid-distance events, particularly Sarah Osmulski in the 200-yard butterfly (2:12.52). It will be interesting to see if the swimmers’ times improve from the Engineers’ two-week break from competition. The MIT men have shown some incredible times in distance events from swimmers such as Scott Mayberry.
WHEATON COLLEGE
Wheaton College rescheduled its meet against Roger Williams from last week, which will now take place at Wheaton on November 21. Roger Williams’ women have posted some great times in events such as the 100 and 200-yard backstroke from Hannah Nolte and Shannon Earley, within touching distance of a few Lady Lyons. Jenna Hayden’s 100-yard backstroke time of a 1:01.45 is just short of Nolte’s time of a 1:01.11. And, in the 200-yard backstroke, Skyler Dean-Lee has posted a season best of 2:17.24, which is not out of reach from Earley’s time of 2:11.51. On the men’s side, Roger Williams shows strength in their sprint and mid-distance events, similar to the Wheaton men’s team. Similar to the two women’s teams, it will be interesting to see which men’s team comes out on top. Wheaton will surely rely on their mid-distance swimmers such as Frederick Garneau, Jonathan Dunnett, and Nick Fredette to score points.
WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE (WPI)
WPI will have a meet at Roger Williams on Nov. 22. For the women’s team, the strength shown from Jenny Day will definitely be used again at this upcoming meet. Day has recently put out great times in events such as the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:18.83 and the 1000-yard freestyle at 11:00.09. Her distance events will surely put her at the top of the roster against the Roger Williams ladies. On the men’s side, their strong events include the 200-yard freestyle, the 100-yard backstroke, and the 100-yard breaststroke from swimmers such as Alex Powers and Andrew Bauer. Powers has put up a recent time in the 100-yard backstroke of a 53.64 and a 2:00.28 in the 200-yard backstroke. In the meet against Coast Guard, Bauer won the 200-yard freestyle at 1:45.17. These men will be key swimmers in the upcoming meet against Roger Williams.
BABSON COLLEGE
Babson will compete at MIT on November 22. Distance swimmer An Truong who has been leading the team with victories so far will be looked at to score some points in the upcoming meet. Truong has been putting out some great times in the 500 and 1000-yard freestyle and will certainly be put in distance events in order to gain points for the team. On the women’s side, diver Paris Ekman will be someone looked for to score points against MIT. Ekman is the school record holder in the 1-meter and last year qualified for NCAA Regional Championships. The diver will definitely be someone to watch for in the future meets.
CLARK UNIVERSITY
Clark University does not have any upcoming meets this week.
SMITH
The Smith College Pioneers have two upcoming meets this week, the first on November 18 against Elms College and the second on November 22 against Westfield State University. The women Pioneers’ sprint group has been successful as well as their two divers, Anna Patridge and Elyse Stone. With two non-conference meets this week it will be interesting to see how the women do competing against teams they will not be seeing at the end of the year at NEWMACs.
COAST GUARD
The Coast Guard Bears have a meet this week at Connecticut College on November 22. The men’s sprint group, led by Christian Brindamour as well as the distance group, particularly Aaron Overheim, will lead the men in this approaching meet. Brindamour recently put up incredible times in the 50-yard freestyle, 21.18, and 100-yard freestyle, 47.43 at the meet against WPI. The women’s sprinters, Darlene Sao and Rebekah Muller have times right with the women from Connecticut College. Sao’s most recent time in the 100-yard freestyle, 54.45 while against WPI, will definitely play a big role in this upcoming meet. Connecticut College, in the NESCAC division, has a lot of talent and will give the Bears some tough competition this week.
MOUNT HOLYOKE
Mount Holyoke will host Western Connecticut State University November 22. Mid-distance and distance swimmer Cathleen Pruden will certainly display some great times as well as first-place finishes in her events. Mid-distance swimmer Willa Holmes has also shown impressive times recently in the 200-yard freestyle that will assist the Lyons in their prospective meet. Her latest time dropped in at a 2:05.45.
SPRINGFIELD COLLEGE
Springfield College will travel to a non-conference meet at Williams College on November 21. Williams College, part of the NESCAC, will push Springfield from the beginning of the meet. This will be William’s season opener against Springfield. The talent shown on the Pride will without a doubt bring some points in throughout the night. Some of the men such as Michael Normoyle and Kent Parsons have been showing strong times in breaststroke and the 200-yard individual medley. NCAA qualifying divers Jack Lewis and Liam Barnes will also be a great asset for this meet. Emily Medeiros, another great breaststroker but on the women’s side as well as distance swimmer Kassandra Lamb will both be big supporters for the points to be earned.
WELLESLEY
Wellesley will travel to MIT on November 21. Mid-distance and sprint swimmer Keelin Nave will continue bringing in points for the women. In the last meet against Simmons College, Nave was the only swimmer to get under two minutes in the 200-yard freestyle, clocking in at 1:59.29. The women will have to stay strong and gain as many points to try and keep up with MIT.
COMING UP
November 18: Smith College against Elms College, at Elms College
November 21: MIT against Wellesley, at MIT
November 21: Wheaton against Roger Williams, at Wheaton
November 21: Springfield College against Williams College, at Williams College
November 22: MIT against Babson and Bowdoin College, at MIT
November 22: WPI against Roger Williams, at Roger Williams
November 22: Smith against Westfield State University, at Westfield State University
November 22: Coast Guard against Connecticut College, at Connecticut College
November 22: Mount Holyoke against Western Connecticut State University, at Mount Holyoke
Kelley Baylis is a sophomore swimmer on the Wheaton College women’s swim team, who is currently the school record holder in the 50 and 100 back. Prior to joining the Lyons, Baylis trained with the Wilton Y Wahoos in Connecticut.