Courtesy: MIT Athletics
THE BASICS:
– Event: 2019 MIT Winter Invitational
– Results: 1st of 5 (1788 points) – Final
– Location: Cambridge, Mass. (Zesiger Sports and Fitness Center Pool)
– The Lead: On the final night of the 2019 MIT Winter Invitational, the MIT men’s swimming and diving team won six events, broke three pool records and one Institute record en route to a first-place finish with 1788 points on Sunday.
HOW IT HAPPENED – 200 Medley Relay:
– The “A” relay set an MIT and a pool record with a time of 1:28.48, dropping .89 seconds from the prelims. The performance by first-year James Richardson (Mercer Island, Wash.), sophomore Kyri Chen (Naperville, Ill.), senior Bouke Edskes (Rockville, Md.), and senior Sam Ubellacker (Georgetown, Ky.) was the second best in the country, which also produced a 2019 Invited Time and an NCAA “B” cut.
– The “B” team of junior Henry Hu (Southbury, Conn.), sophomore Jordan Ren (Chapel Hill, N.C.), junior Kevin Fang (Austin, Texas), and senior Emilio Sison (Annandale, Va.) captured third place in 1:31.64.
– Right behind it was the “C” team of first-year Adam Janicki (Falls Church, Va.), first-year Henry Wang (Dallas, Texas), sophomore Nicholas Baginski (Hawthorn Woods, Ill.), and junior Justin Liu (Linwood, N.J.) in 1:32.60, followed by the “D” team of sophomore Jaya Kambhampaty (Arlington, Va.), sophomore Brandon Yue (Sammamish, Wash.), senior Tim Kralj (Woodinville, Wash.), and sophomore Alex Ellison (Tomball, Texas) in 1:33.55.
– The Engineers’ were rounded out by the “E” team of first-years Chris Rinard (Mountain View, Calif.), Samuel Song (Johns Creek, Ga.), Jake Shapiro (Northbrook, Ill.), and Trent Piercy (Austin, Texas), which was 10th in 1:36.29.
HOW IT HAPPENED – 500 Free:
– First-year Trevor Carter (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) was the runner-up with a time of 4:38.71. Classmate Brendan Wagner (Elmhurst, Ill.) dropped 3.56 seconds from his prelim swim to register a fifth-place finish and an intercollegiate-best time of 4:41.05. Senior Matt Woicik (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) lowered his prelims time by 2.48 seconds to finish seventh in 4:47.09
HOW IT HAPPENED – 200 Back:
– MIT earned six out of the 10 spots in the “A” final. Kambhampaty won the 200 back in 1:51.37, just beating out Janicki who had a personal best time of 1:51.75. Rinard completed the 1-2-3 sweep with a personal record of 1:52.24 while Hu was fifth (1:52.79). Sison logged an intercollegiate-best time of 1:55.68 to place eighth as sophomore Brian Glat (Armonk, N.Y.) was the next person to touch the wall, just .24 seconds later.
HOW IT HAPPENED – 100 Fly:
– The Engineers had seven swimmers in the “A” final and captured the top three spots, which were all NCAA “B” cuts. Edskes came away with the victory as his time of 47.81 broke the pool record, ranked third in the nation, and was a 2019 Invited Time. Ubellacker was the runner-up in 49.16 while sophomore David He (South Setauket, N.Y.) was third in 49.38.
– Fang claimed sixth place (50.11), followed by Richardson (50.24) and Shapiro (51.67), who both set personal records. Piercy rounded out MIT in 10th place with an intercollegiate-best time of 51.97.
HOW IT HAPPENED – 200 Breast:
– MIT captured the top three spots, led by Song’s NCAA “B” cut and personal record of 2:03.78. First-year Henry Wang (Dallas, Texas) also earned an NCAA “B” cut and a personal record by finishing in 2:04.36 while Yue touched the wall in 2:06.90.
HOW IT HAPPENED – 100 Free:
– Sophomore Alex Ellison (Tomball, Texas) dropped .66 seconds from the prelims, finishing as the runner-up in 44.76. His performance was a 2019 Invited Time, an NCAA “B” cut, and a personal record. Chen was third (45.43) while Baginski was fourth (46.20). Piercy’s personal record of 46.94 helped him capture seventh place as Fang was ninth in 47.67.
HOW IT HAPPENED – 200 IM:
– The Engineers claimed seven spots in the final. Edskes, who earned an NCAA “B” cut and a 2019 Invited Time in the prelims, won the 200 IM in 1:517. David He was edged out for the victory by .14 seconds; however, he still recorded an NCAA “B” cut.
– Ren claimed fourth place (1:53.18), followed by Carter (1:55.05). Janicki was seventh with a personal best time of 1:56.03, just .69 seconds ahead of Rinard. Hu rounded out MIT in 10th place with a time of 1:57.97.
HOW IT HAPPENED – 400 Free Relay:
– MIT’s “A” team, comprised of Ubellacker, junior Justin Liu (Linwood, N.J.), Chen, and Ellison won the 400 free relay with a pool record time of 2:58.17. The performance is a 2019 Invited Time, an NCAA “B” cut, and ranks second in the nation. In addition, Ubellacker’s leadoff split of 20.94 was also an NCAA “B” cut.
– The “B” relay of Sison, Piercy, Fang, and Baginski was third (3:06.31) while the “C” team of Edskes, Janicki, Ren, and Carter was fifth (3:09.67). The “D” relay, featuring Wagner, Yue, Woicik, and Glat finished 10th in 3:15.62.
TIME TRIALS:
– Racing in the 50 free, Ubellacker logged a time of 19.70, good for an NCAA “B” cut and a 2019 Invited Time. He also broke the pool record of 19.75 that was set by his brother Wyatt ’13.
OVERALL STANDINGS:
– Behind MIT’s first-place tally of 1788 points was No. 12 Tufts University (1369.5), RPI (924), Wheaton College (411.5), and Keene State College (344).
UP NEXT:
– MIT returns to action on Saturday, Jan. 12 when it hosts NEWMAC rival the U.S. Coast Guard Academy at 12:00 p.m.
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