2010 NESCAC Championships

[LordJeffFree]

Moving on to the 800 free relay. Amherst is the clear favorite in this distance. They probably have the two fastest splits in the meet with Fraser and Lichtenfels. Tim White won't be far behind, and then they will be able to take the best out of the group of McBratney, Homchick, Hu and Colby for the fourth spot, ensuring that they will put someone who is having a great meet into that spot. I'll guess a time of 6:38. Add Schwab (143.1 flat start in high school) or Fitzgerald to the three remaining swimmers from that group and their B relay might be capable of getting third in the event (although it obviously doesn't count for scoring that way) with a time of 6:52-6:54ish.

Williams is the clear second place team, and they should put up the best 800 free relay in their team's history. Roberson, Vieth, Dyrkacz and then one from either Treesh, Armstrong, Taylor would be my guesses for who they'll have on the A relay.

After those relays, I would pick Hamilton for third with Tufts and Wesleyan close behind. Conn College's best relay would probably beat these teams, but they will almost undoubtedly throw this relay again as in recent years.

[E0M8S]

Hey JeffFree, any chance you have an early copy of the men's psych sheet like you did with the women's?

[lapdog]

Men's psyche sheet link:

http://pjmm.net/results/nescacs2010/psy ... -final.pdf

[E0M8S]

An aggressive move by Tufts posting something like this on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-ilNpyfnWw

Personally, I agree that they won't be getting second this year. They'll be getting 3rd. Amherst has some nice depth in their freshman class that'll propel them to the #2 spot.

[LordJeffFree]

Wow. Definitely a bold move to put that out in public, especially for a team that has at most 2 or 3 out of the best 40 swimmers in the conference while Amherst and Williams each have about 10 out of that list. I give Tufts approximately a 0% chance of beating Williams. While they will probably beat Amherst in the meet due to sheer numbers (Amherst only has 16 on the team this year), I would predict that this will be the last year they get better than third in awhile given Amherst's prospects looking forward.

[Jeffs09]

Wow.....just wow....and Tufts wonders why everyone hates them. I hope every recruit that is considering Tufts watches that video before finalizing their decision.

Williams has a ton of depth going into this meet, the overall standings probably shouldn't be close between 1st and 2nd, though Tufts will be full of themselves after the 1st day for loading up in the 50s. Good job. Not sure if Amherst has enough people to get 2nd but they'll certainly give Tufts a run for their money....with 16 people. I'm not much for exact predictions, but I can't wait for some ridiculously fast swims from them this weekend across the board. It's going to be a lot of fun, I can't wait.

[LordJeffFree]

On the plus side, I do enjoy being reminded about the unique abilities which Tufts and Middlebury have to make an Amherst man root for Williams

[We Stay Fly]

All those quotes in the video, and not one from the greatest American swimmer of all time, Ryan Lochte. To make up for this, here's a recent quote from his twitter:

"Ima bout to make it rain tonight, so u better bring a swim suit!!! Jeah!!"

[LordJeffFree]

We never made it through all the relays, so now the 4 medley:

Could be one of the best races in the meet. Williams, Conn and Amherst will put up excellent relays with Tufts not too far behind and Middlebury also able to put up a good relay (they could do their relays in a lot of different ways - Dillon, Beeman or Asaga in backstroke, Vukich in breast, Dillon or Asaga in fly, Beeman or Daly in free). My predictions:
Tufts (4)- Testa, Chan, Kinsella, Rood
Williams (3) - McDonald, Corbett/Dyrkacz, Horgan/(do any of their sprinters also do the 100 fly?), Wampler
Conn (2)- Walsh, Perley, Troy, Moryan
Amherst (1) - Schwab/White/Fitzgerald, O'Connor/Federak, Homchick/McBratney, Fraser

Anyone's race really, just depends who steps up and has the best swim on that day. I think that Amherst's competition within their own team will ensure that they are getting top level swims out of every leg, but obviously I'm also biased. Last years race between Conn and Amherst was decided in large part by Fitzgerald being able to stay right with Walsh in the backstroke

[polarbear]

Its probably a little late at this point, but I was planning on going out to watch both sessions on Saturday if anyone is interested in an aumni gathering between sessions.

[Jeffs09]

Polarbear.... Not sure if you were talking to just members of your team, but there's going to be a few of us from Amherst up and I'd assume there are going to be a ton of Williams alums at the meet. I'm sure we can all find a bar to go to up in Williamstown. Besides, there's like 2 places to go in town so we're all most likely bound to go to the same place.

Aside from my prediction that Amherst is going to have a ridiculously fast weekend (I'm not biased about this in the slightest) I'm calling that Tufts is not going to win a single event this weekend, with the best shot of victory by Lawrence Chan in the 50 tonight. The swim gods are angry with them for their heinous act of hubris in posting that horrendous video on youtube for the world to see.

[polarbear]

Not that they will win this, but pretty strong morning for Bowdoin.

Mecray 1st in the 50 Breast with a school and pool record
Routh 1st in the 50 fly with a school and pool record
Both Mecray and Routh in top 8 (barely) in their other two events, and I heard they were not suited up this morning.
Good swim from Stuyvesant in his weakest backstroke event. Kwan, Morris, Googins all with good swims. 4 finals swims (albeit all from Mecray and Routh). I put them in 6th, depending on diving -- not a bad result for such a small team. Perez with 3 swims to come.

Everyone swam well, no real disappointments

[polarbear]

Williams v Tufts -- some quick math

Williams -- 13 finals, 13 consoles
Tufts -- 8 finals, 3 consoles, 6 bonus, and 3 NONSCORING SWIMS

Tufts does have more swims remaining (Williams used 26, Tufts 20) but even if they all finaled it wouldnt close the gap.

Amherst has 9, 5, 1, and 2 nonscoring swims, although no divers. Depending on how it works out Amherst could be in 2d at the end of the day, but unlikely

[LordJeffFree]

Interesting morning of results. Looked like some good performances all around. Quick observations:

500 free - Amherst and Williams each with 4 in top heat and 2 more apiece in consols. With Dyrkacz and White both swimming 2 IM when they could easily make finals in the 500 if they chose to.

200 IM - Amherst and Williams each with 3. I still see Tim White winning it after it looks like he shut it down in the second half as he won his heat, but it should be a great race

The 50s of strokes happened again.

Williams freshmen in 2 free relay - Righi 20.3, Dyrkacz 20.5 (what can't he swim?), Faux 20.8, Treesh 21.1, Vieth 21.2, Jorento 21.3. Great sprint relays for years to come.

Middlebury:
John Dillon - close to Will Cunninghams record in the 50 back despite it, arguably, being his second best stroke.
Schuyler Beeman - looks like he's having a bounce back year after a poor performance last year. Definitely in the running for the 50 free crown while posting a solid 51.8 back split
Bob Divers - 46.29 split on the B medley. Quite impressive. Not sure why he didn't swim last season, but he was a top recruit when he came into school

Conn College :
In the slower heat for the 4 medley relay after they left their top guys off completely this morning
Grant Moryan 9th in the 50 free

[LordJeffFree]

Some standout performances from last night:
Middlebury relays - while they dq'd the 2 free, they still came up with the fastest swims in both relays by a good margin. Beeman Dillon and Daly are all swimming great.

Ben McBratney - fantastic 200 IM, came home with an impressive last 50. I can't wait to see the rest of his events and relay swims this weekend. It will be interesting to see which relay he skips since he could probably make all 5.

Righi - 20.0 split

Williams dominating the meet as expected. Should be a good fight for second over the weekend