NEW ENGLAND WOMEN’S AND MEN’S ATHLETIC CONFERENCE (NEWMAC) – MEN AND WOMEN
- Dates: Thursday, February 21-Sunday, February 24, 2019
- Location/Host: Sports & Recreation Center, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
- Defending Champion: MIT men; MIT women (results)
- Live Results: Available here
- Championship Central
The MIT men won their 11th straight and the MIT women won their 9th straight NEWMAC Conference Championship meet on Sunday night in Worcester, Massachusetts. Both teams were dominant in their respective meets, with the men winning by almost 300 and the women by almost 400.
Men’s Final Standings:
- MIT – 1477.5
- U.S. Coast Guard Academy – 1179.5
- WPI – 857
- Babson College – 498
- Wheaton College – 476
- Springfield Collge – 475
- Clark University – 219
Women’s Final Standings:
- MIT – 1281
- Wheaton College – 908
- U.S. Coast Guard Academy – 724
- Springfield College – 651
- Wellesley College – 608
- WPI – 605
- Babson College – 272
- Mount Holyoke College – 253
- Clark University – 242
- Smith College – 228
Meet Awards:
- MEN’S SWIMMER OF THE YEAR: Jack Bauer, WPI
- MEN’S DIVER OF THE YEAR: Jay Lang, MIT
- MEN’S ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Jordan Ren, MIT
- WOMEN’S SWIMMER OF THE YEAR: Lydia DaCorte, Wheaton
- WOMEN’S DIVER OF THE YEAR: Deborah Wen, MIT
- WOMEN’S ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Laura Rosado, MIT
In spite of rolling their way to team victories, MIT didn’t claim either Swimmer of the Year award at the meet.
For the men’s meet, that honor went to host WPI’s Jack Bauer, who swept the 100 and 200 yard backstrokes in 48.08 and 1:45.17, respectively. He also took 3rd in the 100 fly in 49.01. The 100 back isn’t Buaer’s season best (he already ranks #1 in D3 this season), but the 200 back was and jumped him to 2nd nationally in the event: exactly one-tenth behind Chicago’s Byrne Litschgi.
The Women’s Swimmer of the Meet award went to Wheaton College sophomore Lydia DaCorte, who swept her 3 individual events at the meet. She won the 500 free in 4:53.52, the 400 IM in 4:26.78, and the 1650 free in 16:58.20. That time in the 500 free broke the old Meet Record of 4:54.81 set by former MIT swimmer Emmie Ryan in 2012.
The MIT women finished off the final day of competition on Sunday by winning 6 of the 7 events on offer, including three 1-2 finishes.
MIT freshman Laura Rosada finished out her Rookie-of-the-Year-worthy meet with a win in the 200 back in 2:00.99, well under the time to earn an invite to NCAAs. She also won the 100 back in 56.64 and finished 5th in the 400 IM in 4:33.89.
The MIT men finished the meet with a new D3 National Record in the 100 IM. Junior Bouke Edskes broke the record in 49.67, clearing the 50.37 done by Luis Weekes of Kenyon last week. The event is an official NCAA event, though it’s not contested at D3 nationals. Edskes’ swim on Sunday was a time trial.
He did, however, also pick up an event victory on the day when he won the 200 fly in 1:48.72.
For the runner-up Coast Guard men, the star of the meet was sophomore Eric Fuhs. He won the 100 breaststroke in 55.38, which is a time on the bubble of NCAA qualification; and followed that with a victory in the 200 breaststroke in 2:01.90. This marks the 2nd-straight season in which Fuhs has swept those events.
The NCAA Division III Swimming & Diving Championships run from March 20th-23rd at the Greensboro Aquatics Center in Greensboro, North Carolina.
It is important to note, that Jack Bauer’s 100 back split of the winning 400 medley relay (10th in D3) that placed him #1 in D3 (47.64) and took 0.58 seconds off of his previous record. Between smashing both the 100 and 200 back meet/conference records, that gave Bauer an important leg up on some of the other Swimmer of the Meet contenders. I was not involved in the Swimmer of the Meet selection so this is my speculation.