NORTON - In the last meet before the NESCAC Championships, the Jumbo men's swimming & diving team swam well against MIT, Wheaton, and Clark at the Wheaton Invitational on Friday and Saturday.
The meet was not scored and occurred over two days. For many of the Jumbos this was their last meet as only 24 swimmers compete at the NESCAC Championships. Twenty-two of the spots have already been named and two will be selected based on their performances this weekend.
The Jumbos swam great from start to finish and won a number of races. They started off the meet sweeping the 400-yard medley relay. The team of sophomore Craig Olynyk (Redmond, WA), senior Matt Richmond (Portland, OR), sophomore Andrew Berman (Miami, FL) and sophomore Kyle Savidge (South Windsor, CT) finished first in 3:40.11. Freshman John Patterson (Akron, OH), freshman Michael Ren (Wayland, MA), freshman Kevin Kozikowski (Berlin, CT) and freshman Austin Wood (Fort Washington, PA) finished second in 3:41.25, and senior Andrew Vidikan (Littleton, CO), freshman Sean Gunn (Thousand Oaks, CA), freshman John Budrow (Wilbraham, MA), and freshman Will Parker (Frederick, MD) finished third in 3:44.46.
The Jumbos had another sweep in the 1,000-yard freestyle with senior co-captain Joe McLoughlin (North Eastham, MA) finishing first in 10:06.29, sophomore Matthew Weins (Mercer Island, WA) finishing second in 10:24.13 and freshman Ian Dinwoodie (East Greenwich, RI) finishing third in 10:32.44.
To end the night on the Friday, Olynyk, freshman John Devine (Oxford, MA), Parker and Wood teamed up to win the 400-yard freestyle relay in 3:13.32, while senior Jay Farber (Issaquah, WA), Berman, Savidge and senior co-captain Owen Rood (Branford, CT) finished second in 3:14.43.
To start the session on Saturday morning, Vidikan, Gunn, sophomore Eric Douglas (Southbury, CT) and Parker finished second in the 200-yard medley relay in 1:40.26. Devine, Ren, senior Brandon Ching (Honolulu, HI), and Wood finished just behind in 1:40.34.
Berman had the best finish in the 200-yard freestyle finishing in fifth in a season-best 1:46.26. Savidge had the best finish in the 100-yard backstroke finishing third in 54.87 seconds. Ren had the best finish in the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:01.81. Freshman Mike Napolitano (Fanwood, NJ) had the best finish in the 200-yard butterfly in 2:00.38. In the 400-yard individual medley, Savidge finished just ahead of senior Travis Grodkiewicz (Glen Gardner, NJ) 4:22.14 to 4:23.47 respectively.
Rood finished third in the 100-yard freestyle in 48.79. Vidikan won the 200-yard backstroke in 1:59.35 for the only individual swimming win all day. Senior Alex Strittmatter (Fairfield, CT) had the best finish in the 500-yard freestyle in 4:56.64. Ching finished third in the 100-yard butterfly in 53.86. Grodkiewicz finished third in the 200-yard IM in 2:04.46.
In the final event of the day, Rood, Devine, Parker, and Berman teamed up to finish second in the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:28.24.
The team now has three weeks before the NESCAC championships at Williams College February 24-26.
Meet results
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Written by Reed Shimberg
