The men’s swimming and diving team traveled to the United States Naval Academy this past weekend to compete in the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) Swimming Championships. The event spanned the entire weekend, and by the end of Saturday Maine was in 10th place with 107 points, leading the 11th place Loyola University by over 30 points. The Black Bears also broke two school records in their ongoing competition.
The first event in which Maine competed was the first event that saw a school record broken. The 200-yard freestyle relay team consisted of second-year Nick Sundquist, third-year Shane Kinnon, fourth-year Matt England and first-year Justin Hafner. Their blistering time of 1:23.89 shattered the previous school record of 1:24.83.
Sundquist went on to place 10th in the 200-yard individual medley, putting up a time of 1:50.24 that was sufficient to earn seven points for Maine. This was another school record by Sundquist, whose time edged out the previous record of 1:50.57 that had been set by him.
Maine continued their excellent consistency in relays by placing 10th in the 400-yard medley relay. Second-year Connor Mayhew, second-year Peter Tirabassi, England and Kinnon composed the team, and they gathered 14 points for Maine with their time of 3:28.20.
The next relay, the 200-yard medley relay, saw Maine’s highest ranking effort of the competition. England, Tirabassi, Sundquist and Kinnon finished in 1:32.07, earning a whopping 30 points for the Black Bears and being defeated only by Army West Point, the U.S. Naval Academy and Binghamton.
Sundquist returned to earn Maine 17 points in his next competition, the 100-yard butterfly. He completed the race second overall, finishing only behind Rider University’s Matthan-Matthew Martir. He finished the event in 48.59 seconds.
In the 100-yard backstroke, England finished in 50.70 seconds and 11th place overall, enough to earn six points for Maine.
The 800-yard freestyle relay was Saturday’s last event, and saw Maine finish the day strong. The team was led by Sundquist, and followed by first-year Morrill Coulter, third-year Tim Edison and first-year Andrew Majeski. They finished the event fifth overall, clocking in at 6:48.28 and bringing 28 points to the team.
A strong second day more than tripled Maine’s overall points, and put them in an enviable position going into the last day of the meet. Going up against the stiffest competition they’ve faced this season, Maine excelled, and look to continue to do so.
