Contributed by Robert Reiser
2019 NESCAC CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS
- February 21st-24th, 2019
- Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vermont
- Teams: Amherst, Bates, Bowdoin, Colby, Connecticut College, Hamilton, Middlebury, Trinity, Tufts, Wesleyan, Williams
- Live Results
About the only thing certain at the start of Saturday night at the 2019 NESCAC Championships was that there was a lot of fast swimming ahead. Scoring, places at nationals, swimmer of the meet, and records were all up for grabs.
In the race for first Williams opened the night with 767 points and a lead of 57 over Tufts, but they used five more swims on the first night. Amherst was just off the pace, 80 points behind Tufts, but 200 ahead of surprise fourth place team Colby with 435. The race for fourth was even closer — Colby led Bowdoin by 4.5 points. Bates was 40 points behind in sixth with 394 points — well within striking distance of their Maine brethren. Just down the line, Connecticut College had a 15 point lead over Middlebury and Wesleyan sat just 22 points behind Hamilton in the battle for 11th.
Reigning swimmer of the meet Karl Sarier had finished second in the 200IM, likely ruining his chances of winning the award again, with frontrunners for the award now being Tufts’ Roger Gu (50 free champion, split :19.39 on relay) and Kingsley Bowen (50 back champion), Amherst’s Sean Mebust (50 breast champion, only sub :55 breast split in the medley relay) and Williams’ Jamie Lovette (500 free champion, second fastest split in the 800 relay and just a tenth behind the fastest in 1:38.03).
Saturday night would yield clarity — the team scoring would become clearer, a number of candidates would drop out of the Swimmer of the Meet race, and NCAA qualifying times would be achieved.
200 Medley Relay
Tufts University, 1:29.26
Amherst College, 1:29.86
Williams College, 1:30.45
Tufts’ All American Kingsley Bowen returned to the backstroke leg after swimming fly in the 400 Medley Relay and he was first after the opening 50 in :22.54. Bowdoin’s Ted Mebust was a hundredth behind, breaking the Bowdoin school record he set the night before in the 50 back, and followed by Williams freshman Nick Whitcomb in :23.00 and Amherst sophomore Kou Li in :23.20 with a body length gap on the rest of the field. 50 breaststroke champion Sean Mebust had the fastest breast split in the field (:24.92), just ahead of Williams’ Jack Melnick while Bowdoin faded slightly to fourth, with the top three teams essentially even with Amherst (:48.11) leading Williams (:48.12) and Tufts (:48.16). Tufts’ Camerano and Williams’ Hart both split :21.7 in the fly with Amherst’ Koravos two tenths behind and Williams entered the freestyle with a 2 hundredths lead. Tufts’ Roger Gu once again dominated the field as the anchor, bringing it home in :19.38. Williams faded to third while Amherst was second. All three were under the 2018 qualifying time. Bowdoin was fourth in 1:31.07, breaking their 2012 school record by over a second and a half, but just off what it took to go to NCAA’s last year.
1,000 Free
Williams’ Andrew Trunsky dominated the 1,000 free, winning by over five seconds and narrowly missing Christian Gronbeck’s 2015 Pool, Meet, and NESCAC record of 9:13.18. Trunsky was out fast, going through the 200 in 1:46.49 and opening a two body length lead by the 300 yard mark. He was through the 500 in 4:34.23, which would have been fast enough to final in that event, and hung on for the win.
Connecticut’s Jared Nussbaum was second, sixteen seconds faster than his seventh place finish from last year, in an epic race with Colby’s Ryan Bedell that spectators potentially lost amidst Trunsky’s dominance. Bedell actually held a half second lead at the 500 with both going through the halfway point in 4:39. Bedell held that lead until the last fifty although the two were never more than a half second apart. Bedell closed in a fast :26.41 but it was not enough to hold off Nussbaum who closed in a faster :26.03 to take second by .15. Nussbaum’s time appears to be a Connecticut College record by over 10 seconds.
While Williams took the race, Tufts finished 4-7-8-15 and led by 10 points after the event. In the battle for fourth Bowdoin moved ahead of Colby by 2.5 points despite having their first and fourth place seeds fall into the consolation finals.
400IM
Jackson Karofsky, Williams 3:53.64
Colin Merrill, Connecticut 3:59.84
John Gaffney, Williams 3:59.87
The second race of the night resulted in another dominant win by the Williams distance team and another close race for second place. Williams sophomore Jackson Karofsky had a small lead after the fly but dominated the field in the backstroke, splitting :58.20 to go through the halfway point in 1:51.33 with a two body length lead on eventual fourth place finisher Joseph Kim of Tufts. Karofsky had the second fastest breaststroke split in the field and raced home in :53.30. His time was five seconds below the B Cut standard, just two tenths off Paul Dyrkacz’s 2011 meet record, and the third fastest time in the nation going into the weekend. Meanwhile, the race for second place followed the script set in the 1,000 free with Connecticut’s Colin Merrill holding off John Gaffney’s last fifty split of :26.38 to take second by .03.
Despite seeing Williams go 1-3-5 in the event, Tufts extended its lead to 19 by placing 4-7-10-13-14.
100 Fly
David Pearcy, Williams :48.95
Jack Koravos, Amherst :49.30
Costantino Camerano, Tufts :49.47
Top seed David Pearcy was able to improve on his third place finish from 2018 to take the win in just over what it took to go to NCAA’s in 2018. Last year’s runner-up Jack Koravos repeated his placing while Costantino Camerano was able to take over a half second off his best time from 2017 to record his third All NESCAC award. Bowdoin’s Julian Abaldo finished ninth — repeating his finish from both 2018 and 2017.
Tufts placed three in the final — but Williams had four, and after the event they led by a point. Meanwhile, after placing two in consoles Bowdoin opened a 50 point lead on Colby who in turn had a 30 point lead on Connecticut and another 12 on Bates.
200 Free
James Lovette, Williams 1:37.82
Charlie Seltzer, Amherst 1:39.41
Karl Sarier, Bowdoin 1:39.75
Williams’ Jamie Lovette, Friday night’s champion in the 500, prevailed in the race that may have decided Swimmer of the Meet. 50 free champion Roger Gu finished the morning in 16th and while he won the consolation final in a time that would have tied for third, his morning swim likely took him out of the running. Meanwhile, Bowdoin’s Karl Sarier — who won this event his first three years — was unable to take the title for a fourth time. Williams’ Lovette — out fast in :47.93 — actually out split Sarier in the last fifty to take the win in a Pool and Meet record 1:37.82, well under the 2018 NCAA qualifying time of 1:39.29.
With Sarier yet to win an event and Gu finishing the 200 in consoles they appear to be out of the running for Swimmer of the Meet. Williams maintained a five point lead on Tufts while Amherst fell nearly 300 points behind. Bowdoin extended its lead for fourth to 71 points while Colby led Connecticut by ten points for fifth with Bates another thirteen points behind.
100 Breast
Jack Melnick, Williams :55.64
Sean Mebust, Amherst :56.00
Chris Quinones, Amherst :56.44
After winning the 50 breast on Friday, owning the top seed in the 200, and emerging from prelims as the top seed, Amherst’s Sean Mebust was the favorite in this event and even considered to be an outside shot at Swimmer of the Meet by some. Alas, like Gu and Sarier before him it is likely not his year. Mebust led at the fifty but Williams senior Jack Melnick was able to take the lead at the 75 and hold on for the win. His time of :55.64 equaled what it took to go to NCAA’s last year. Amherst’s Chris Quinones was third, repeating his place from 2018.
After placing 1-5-9-12-18-22 Williams extended its lead to 57 points. In the race for fourth Colby remained in fifth, 39 points behind Bowdoin, and extended their lead over Bates to twenty while Connecticut slid to seventh, 35 points behind Bates.
100 Back
Kingsley Bowen, Tufts :48.42
Craig Smith, Amherst :49.90
Nick Whitcomb, Williams :49.95
In 2018 the 100 back was arguably the slowest event at the meet — :51.88 made the top heat. This year, with nine freshman in the top sixteen, that time would have put you in the bonus heat as it took :50.19 to final.
Tufts’ Kinsgley Bowen defended his 2018 title, winning the event by over a second and a half in a time a second below what it took to qualify for NCAA’s in 2018. Bowen now has the fastest time in the 100 back, had the fastest fly split in the 400 Medley Relay, and split :20.1 on the Tufts B 200 Free Relay, and has to be considered in the running for Swimmer of the Meet. 2018 fourth place finisher Craig Smith was second while Williams freshman Nick Whitcomb held on for third. Ted Mebust, third seed after the morning, fell to 8th and may have lost his shot at Newcomer of the Meet.
Behind Bowen’s win Tufts narrowed its deficit to 24 points. Every point will count on Sunday and the battle for first will surely go down to the last event or two. Amherst is over 200 points behind in third and is likely unable to break into the top. 300 points behind Amherst in fourth, Bowdoin holds a 52 point lead over Colby who has consistently outswam their seeds, but they are only 22 points ahead of Bates and another 20 ahead of Connecticut College — one additional finalist for each team could mean the difference in overall placing. Neither Williams or Tufts has divers so that event will not make the difference, but Bowdoin scored 93 points on 1 meter — their strongest event of the meet — and they have to be the favorite to hold on to fourth place, even if their distance swimmers have been unable to hold seed.
Combined Team Scores – Through Event 17
1. Williams College 1316.5
2. Tufts University 1292.5
3. Amherst College 1036
4. Bowdoin College 697.5
5. Colby College 645
6. Bates College 623
7. Connecticut College 603.5
8. Middlebury College 460.5
9. Trinity College 330.5
10. Hamilton College 215
11. Wesleyan University 187