Men's swimming rolls to victory in dual meet against Middlebury

LEWISTON, Maine -- The Bates men's swimming and diving team rolled to victory over visiting Middlebury on Sunday, while the Bates women's team came up short against the Panthers in a dual meet at Tarbell Pool.

The Bobcats outscored Middlebury 170-118 on the men's side, while the women's team fell to the visitors by a count of 197-93.

"Today was a battle for a lot of swimmers - with some truly impressive bright spots for sure," head coach Peter Casares said. "The last 10 days have been very good for this team training wise, and it makes sense they are tired. These are the moments that will define a season though. Do you start second guessing your training and confidence, or do you know that a tired meet happens and have faith in the body of work that led to that moment? They'll need to be firing on all cylinders if they want to finish strong moving forward against Tufts, the CBB, and the NESCAC Championships."

Bates Men's Highlights

The Bobcats took the top two spots in the 200-yard medley relay. Sophomore Tim Johnson (Brewster, Mass.), junior Marrich Somridhivej (South Windsor, Conn.), sophomore Liam Friedlander (Pittsburgh, Pa.), and junior Max Cory (Dublin, Calif.) won the race in 1:32.66, while sophomore John Weigel (Iowa City, Iowa), sophomore Noah Katz (Hallowell, Maine), junior Trent Hieber (Granby, Conn.), and first-year Nate Oppenheim (Easton, Conn.) took second place in 1:33.57.
First-year Anton Kondratyev (Belle Mead, N.J.) and junior Matthew Kunkiewicz (Hillsborough, N.J.) took 1-2 in the 1650-yard freestyle, with Kondratyev touching the wall in 16:49.20 and Kunkiewicz recording a time of 16:56.61.
Oppenheim won the 200-yard freestyle in 1:43.06.
Johnson won the 100-yard backstroke in 50.59 seconds and the 200-yard backstroke in 1:51.07.
Somridhivej, Weigel, and junior Kailer Tom (Daly City, Calif.) took the top three spots in the 100-yard breaststroke, with Somridhivej winning in 57.80 seconds.
Friedlander won the 200-yard butterfly in 1:54.29.
Cory and first-year Eyton Ng (Brooklyn, N.Y.) finished 1-2 in the 50-yard freestyle, with Cory winning in 20.55 seconds and Ng touching the wall in 21.81 seconds.
Cory and Oppenheim went 1-2 in the 100-yard freestyle, as Cory won in 45.80 seconds and Oppenheim finished runner-up in 48.01 seconds.
Weigel won the 100-yard butterfly in 51.14 seconds.
Oppenheim broke the Tarbell Pool record in the 400-yard IM with a time of 4:09.37. Senior Jaewoo Kim (San Ramon, Calif.) finished runner-up in the race in 4:14.82.
Cory, Johnson, Weigel, and Somridhivej teamed up to win the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:24.19.

Bates Women's Highlights

Sophomore Sarah Palmer (Brunswick, Maine) won the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:06.26 and the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:23.49.
Junior Emma Burke (New Hartford, N.Y.) won the 200-yard butterfly in 2:09.14 and was the runner-up in the 100-yard butterfly in 59.51 seconds.
Senior captain Stephanie Tropper (Solon, Ohio) finished runner-up in both the 1650-yard freestyle in 18:13.31 and the 500-yard freestyle in 5:22.63.
Junior Lianna Rosman (Bethesda, Md.) took second place in the 50-yard freestyle in 25.54 seconds.
Sophomore Amber Zeng (South Windsor, Conn.) placed third in the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:09.12.