Amherst Men's And Women's Swimming and Diving Oust Wesleyan

November 20, 2006

AMHERST, MA – The Amherst College men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams ousted visiting NESCAC and Little Three archrival Wesleyan University last night to move both team's records to 2-0 on the young season. The men's team posted a 159-116 win, while the women's side finished with an equally impressive 144-112 victory.

In the women's races, the Amherst swimmer's won handily, taking the top finisher in ten of the fifteen events of the meet. In the first event, Amherst junior Lisa Pritchard (Saratoga Springs, NY) set the tone for the night taking first and earning nine points for the team, while teammate Alex lee finished second in the 50 yard backstroke. After Wesleyan took the top finish in the 50 Breaststroke, the Amherst women rattled off an impressive streak of top finishes in the next nine events, to pull away.

While the Lord Jeff women dominated the meet on a whole, the Wesleyan side received solid support from their relay squad, winning the 400 yard freestyle relay to close out the night for the Cardinals.

During the even number events, the Amherst men's team posted a solid performance, winning nine of the fifteen events, and again surrendering the final 400 yard freestyle event to close out the night.

Highlights of the evening include early close wins by Amherst senior John Ancona (Lake Forest, IL) and junior Andrew Maslan (Mission Hills, KS) in the 50 Breaststroke and the 50 Butterfly, respectively. Ancona edged out Wesleyan's Jeff Stein by only 0.16 of a second, to take the second men's event of the night. Wesleyan senior Ben Byers (Seattle, WA) extended his 1000 meter freestyle win streak to 23 straight in dual meets with a win at Amherst, but the win was not enough, as Amherst moved to 2-0 on the year.

In diving, Amherst sophomore Sabrina Dorman (Chevy Chase, MD) took the one meter women's crown, but fell to Wesleyan's Jessica Houghton in the three meter competition, while Amherst junior Connor Boyd (Northridge, CA) took the three meter top spot, with a score of 237.08. Amherst junior Adam Bookman (Chevy Chase, MD) finished with a pair of third place finishes on the day.

Both the Amherst men's and women's teams will return to action on Sat. December 2, 2006 at Middlebury at 1:00 p.m.