Photo Courtesy: Hayley Good
By Kelley Baylis, Swimming World Intern
With the break for Thanksgiving, all teams in the NEWMAC Swimming Conference will be finishing out their fall semester with meets this weekend. Springfield will compete in a weekend meet for the Ithaca Invitational, while Wheaton will travel to Massachusetts Institute of Technology for the MIT Invitational. Having taken a break, it will be interesting to see how these meets will play out with the rested athletes.
SPRINGFIELD COLLEGE
Springfield College will compete at the Ithaca Invitational this weekend. While both the men and women’s teams have been showing some great swims, the last meet of the semester is always interesting to watch. In their last meet, although they fell short to Williams College, the ladies still had great times. Alyssa Carle touched second in the 100-yard breaststroke with a 1:08.04 while Emily Medeiros finished second in the 200-yard breaststroke at 2:31.62. While the men also fell short to Williams, diver Jack Lewis has only been showing more incredible performances. Lewis has received NEWMAC diver of the week for four weeks in a row, and he showed an outstanding performance against the defending NESCAC champion with 285.15 points on 1-meter as well as 287.40 points on the 3-meter springboard.
WHEATON COLLEGE
Wheaton College will attend the weekend-long invitational at MIT this coming weekend. With their latest win against Roger Williams, the Lyons will definitely want to finish out the semester with some great swims. Freshman Jenna Hayden and Aleza Epstein have both been great contributors to the team thus far. At the Roger Williams meet, both women won two races: Epstein in the 200- and 100-yard freestyle, and Hayden in the 100-yard backstroke and the 100-yard butterfly. Senior Nick Fredette has truly been leading the Lyons this season. At the Roger Williams meet, Fredette touched first in three individual events: the 100-yard freestyle, 200-yard freestyle, and the 500-yard freestyle. Both the men and women’s team show strength in their mid-distance events, which will surely come into play in the upcoming meet at MIT.
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
WPI will host the Gompei Invitational this upcoming weekend. Distance swimmer Jenny Day will certainly shine at the invitational. As a freshman, Day has absolutely made a name for herself on the WPI women’s team. Against Roger Williams, Day brought in three first-place finishes in the 1000-yard freestyle, 500-yard freestyle, and 400-yard individual medley. On the men’s side, swimmers to watch for in the final meet of the semester will be Alex Powers in events such as 100-yard backstroke and the 200-yard freestyle, as well as Andrew Bauer in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle. WPI will certainly not hold back at their last home meet for the semester.
BABSON COLLEGE
The Babson women will travel to Simmons for their last meet of the semester. While both the men and women teams were defeated by MIT and Bowdoin College in their last meet, the Beavers still put out some great swims. Distance swimmer An Truong has been leading the men. The reigning NEWMAC swimmer of the week had three top-three finishes at the last meet. He will without a doubt bring in more points for the men after the holiday break. The women will definitely put forth their top swimmers in the upcoming meet. Madeline Dupre, Kendall Ford, as well as diver Paris Ekman, are three athletes to watch.
CLARK UNIVERSITY
Clark will travel to WPI for the WPI Gompei Invitational December 5-7. Racing at the same pool where the NEWMAC swimming conference championships will be located this upcoming February will be a great way to end this semester for the Cougars. Sophomore Karina Urquhart has been bringing in the women’s team points in events such as the 100-yard butterfly and the 400-yard individual medley. Liz Barker has been showing great strength in backstroke events, which will come into play during the upcoming meet at WPI. The Clark men showed impressive swims against regional rivals Bridgewater State, where the men took home nine first-place finishes. David Powers, Steven Castiglione, Eddie McCluskey and Jack Hall all brought in wins for the men. Their strength in distance as well as mid-distance events will surely come into play at the upcoming invitational.
COAST GUARD
The Coast Guard Bears will travel to WPI for the Winter Invitational December 6-7. On the women’s side, Sarah Cantrell, senior diver for the Bears, has been showing some impressive points on the boards. At the most recent meet against Connecticut College, Cantrell posted first-place finishes in both the 1- and 3-meter with 286.87 and 297.90. With the upcoming meet at WPI, Cantrell will definitely be tested to see how she will do. Not surprisingly, Christian Brindamour has not slowed down. Although the men lost against Connecticut College, Brindamour contributed two individual first-place finishes in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle. This will be the final meet of the fall semester for both seniors.
MIT
MIT will host the Winter Invitational this weekend. Someone to watch this weekend will be freshman Joanna Han. She recently picked up a NCAA B cut in the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 4:36.38 at the meet against Babson and Bowdoin. The times continued on the men’s side as well, with junior Bo Mattix winning the 100-yard backstroke in a 50.91 and the 200-yard backstroke in 1:53.08, earning NCAA B cuts in both events, respectively. Both swimmers will be ones to look for at the last meet of the semester.
MOUNT HOLYOKE
Mount Holyoke will also travel to WPI for the Gompei Invitational this weekend. The Lady Lyons recently posted 12 wins out of 16 events at their win against Western Connecticut State. Cathleen Pruden continues to display great times, particularly in the 1000-yard freestyle. Last year at WPI, Pruden was exceptional at the NEWMAC conference meet, so this coming weekend will be a great indication of how far she has come since last February.
SMITH COLLEGE
The Smith women have some strong contenders and will be traveling to WPI for the Gompei Invitational this weekend. The women show great strength in events such as the 100-yard backstroke, 100-yard freestyle, and the 100-yard freestyle. Anna Partridge recently missed the NCAA cut by two points on the 3-meter board, and will face some tough competition at the Invitational.
WELLESLEY COLLEGE
Wellesley will travel to MIT for the Winter Invitational this weekend. Diver Maura Sticco-Ivins has recently gained accolades for NEWMAC diver of the week; this is Sticco-Ivins’ second time this month. Sticco-Ivins placed first in both the 1- and 3-meter with scores of 267.90 and 260.70 at the meet against MIT. This freshman will be a diver to watch for at the upcoming invitational.
NEWMAC SWIMMING SCHEDULE
December 2: Babson against Simmons College, at Simmons College
December 5-7: Springfield, Clark, Mount Holyoke, Coast Guard and Smith at WPI for the Gompei Invitational
December 5-7: Wheaton and Wellesley at MIT for the Winter Invitational