Lawrence Ma, a senior on Wesleyan’s team, put together this video.
Check out Wesleyan Swimming and Diving’s team video for the 2015-16 season above.
Wesleyan competes in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) with top tier Division III swim programs like Williams, Amherst, Tufts, and Middlebury. This season, Wesleyan put up 8th place finishes on both the men’s and women’s sides at the 2016 NESCAC Championships. Williams hosted the men’s championships, while Middlebury hosted the women’s championships.
Highlighting Wesleyan’s 2015-16 season were sophomores Zoe Kerrich and Ali Pourmaleki. Kerrich was on a tear at NESCACs, setting new program records in every stroke discipline except for backstroke; she broke records in the 50 and 100 free, 50 fly, 200 breast, and 100 IM. Kerrich was also on the 200 medley relay and 200 free relay, both of which took down program records.
Pourmaleki, meanwhile, set new program records in both the 100 and 200 butterfly, in addition to finishing 3rd in the 200 fly at NESCACs– he was the Cardinals’ only individual A finalist at NESCACs, finishing in the top 8 in both the 100 and 200 fly. He also swam fly on the 400 medley relay, which broke another Wesleyan team record.
Also setting new team records were freshman Alex Kapphahn and sophomore Brandon Pearson. Kapphahn set new marks in the 50 back and 100 IM, while Pearson now holds the 1 and 3 meter diving records for both dual meets and championship meets. Pearson would go on to qualify for NCAAs after his double 3rd place finishes in the 1 and 3 meter events at NESCACs– he ended up 14th overall in the 1 meter diving event at NCAAs.