NEWMAC Swimmers and Divers To Represent Conference At NCAA Men's Championship
Thirteen athletes will represent the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) at the upcoming NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving National Championships.
2009 NEWMAC Champion MIT will send eight swimmers to the national meet and will compete in all of the relay events. Springfield will send three athletes, two divers and one swimmer, while one swimmer will represent both Clark and Coast Guard.
For the Engineers, 2009 NEWMAC Swimmer of the Year, Rastislav Racz (Bratislava, SLOVAKIA) makes his third appearance at the NCAA Championship. A six-time All-American, the junior will compete in the 100 breast, the 200 breast, the 200 medley relay and the 400 medley relay. The NEWMAC champion in both breaststroke events, Racz goes into the 100 seeded second with a time of 54.99. He is also seeded 14th in the 200 with a time of 2:03.77.
Also making their third appearances at Nationals for MIT, juniors Luke Cummings (Sturgeon Bay, Wis.) and Jeff Zhou (Buffalo, N.Y.) will each swim two individual events and two relays for the Engineers. Cummings will swim the 50 free, the 100 free, and both the 200 and the 400 freestyle relays. A 2007 All-American in relay events, Cummings finished third in both the 50 and 100 freestyle at the NEWMAC Championships and is seeded 28th and 30th in the events, respectively. Zhou will compete in the 50 free where he is seeded 35th, the 100 fly where he is seeded 31st and both the 200 and the 800 freestyle relays. Also a 2007 All-American in relay events, Zhou took second-team All-Conference honors in the 100 fly.
MIT senior Laurent Charpentier (Aigues-Mortes, FRANCE) and sophomore Michael Dobson (Houston, Texas) are both competing at the National Championship for the second time in their careers. Charpentier, the NEWMAC Champion in both the 100 and 200 free, will compete in those events at Nationals, as well as the 200, 400 and 800 free relays. Individually, he's seeded 15th in the 100 free and 20th in the 200 free. Dobson will swim the 200 free, the 500 free, the 1650 free and the 800 free relay for the Engineers. After winning both the 500 and the 1650 at the NEWMAC Championships, he's seeded 16th in the 1650, 29th in the 500 and 39th in the 200.
Making their first appearances at the National Championship for MIT are senior Peter Wellings (Palm Harbor, Fla.) and freshmen Tim Stumbaugh (Loveland, Colo.) and Brett Boval (Coto De Caza, Calif.). Wellings will swim the 200, 400 and 800 freestyle relays for MIT, after taking part in the first-place teams at the NEWMAC Championship. Stumbaugh will compete in five events for the Engineers, the 400 IM, 100 back, 200 back and the 200 and 400 medley relays. The NEWMAC Champion in the 100 back, he is seeded 28th at Nationals in the event. Stumbaugh is also seeded 24th in the 200 back and 30th in the 400 IM after taking second in both events at the NEWMAC Championship. Boval tallied a third place finish at the NEWMAC Championship in the 100 fly and will swim the event at nationals, seeded 35th. He will also be part of the 400-medley relay team for MIT.
The Engineers are seeded no lower than 15th in each of the relays at the National Championship. In the medley relays, MIT is seeded 7th in the 200 (1:31.41) and 8th in the 400 (3:21.14). In the freestyle relays, the Engineers are 9th in the 200 (1:22.10), 14th in the 400 (3:03.07) and 15th in the 800 (6:49.15).
The Springfield College men's swimming and diving team will be sending three members, one swimmer and two divers, to the national meet. NEWMAC Diver of the Year Brian Sobel (Stratford, Conn.) along with teammate Matt Fitzgerald (Pelham, N.H.) were each selected to compete in the one-meter and three-meter springboard competition. Sobel, a sophomore will make his first appearance at the championships, where he holds the 9th best score on both the 1 and 3 Meter boards. Junior Fitzgerald will also be making his first appearance and holds the 10th best score on both boards.
Greg Pearsall (Litchfield, Conn.), a senior making his second appearance after scoring All-America honors in 2007, is the lone Pride swimmer headed to the NCAA Championship. He qualified to swim in the 50 free, 100 free, and 200 free. Pearsall finished the season with first team all-Conference honors for the 50 free and second team All-Conference for the 100 free, 200 free, 200 free relay, 400 free relay and 800 free relay. Pearsall goes into the 50 free seeded 11th with a time of 20.46, 17th in the 100 free with a time of 45.27, and 26th in the 200 free with a time of 1:41.29.
Representing Clark University is freshman Ryan Garr (Wakefield, R.I.), who will compete in the 100 and 200 backstroke, where he is seeded 37th and 16th respectively. Garr earned first-team All-Conference honors, and set a new pool and school record with his first place finish in the 200-yard backstroke in the final day of competition at the NEWMAC Championship. Garr broke his own mark by winning the race in a time of 1:51.66, became the first Cougar swimmer or diver to earn All-Conference honors since 2002.
Swimming for Coast Guard at his first National Championship, senior Jim Okorn (Euclid, Ohio) took home the only championship and first-team All-Conference honor for the Bears at the NEWMAC Championship. He won the 100 butterfly with an NCAA B cut and school-record time of 49.87. He also took home three second place finishes as he was second in the 50 freestyle (20.66), also a school-record and B cut time, while earning second place as part of a pair of relay teams. Okorn enters the national championship seeded 13th in the 50 free, 36th in the 100 free and 17th in the 100 fly.
The 28th Annual Division III Swimming and Diving National Championships begin Wednesday, March 18, 2009 at the University of Minnesota. The competition will run through March 21st.
Written by Katie Guynn, Wellesley College, 2009
Copyright 2008 The New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference. All rights reserved.
