Courtsey of Brian Beard

In the past three weeks, the swimming and diving teams have competed in two meets, one against Tufts University at home in Greason Pool and one against Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston. The women’s team lost 188–116, while the men’s team finished 197–90 against the Jumbos. For the MIT meet the following weekend, the women’s and men’s teams trailed 223–75 and 219–66, respectively.

Despite overall team setbacks, several individual swimmers put up strong results over both weekends.

From the women’s team, Sydney Lillis ’27 won the 200-yard butterfly (fly) event at both Tufts and MIT. Lillis completed the 200 fly at Tufts with a time of 2:06.57 and finished at MIT with 2:07.59. She also clutched first place in the 100 fly with a 58.5 against Tufts.

According to Lillis, the 200 fly is her strongest event, as she has mastered the feel of the stroke over the years.

“I know how it feels very well. Sometimes when I race [events] I don’t really know, I don’t have a gauge of where it’s gonna hurt, when it’s gonna hurt, how hard to try at the beginning and how to pace it. But I feel like with the [200 fly], I have a very good gauge on how to swim it,” Lillis said.

When swimming distances such as the 200 fly, Lillis usually sticks to swimming as fast as possible towards the end, but the Tufts meet proved different.

“I had a lot of front-half speed, which usually I would say I’m more of a back [half] swimmer. So that makes me excited for what [the Maine State Meet] this weekend could look like,” Lillis said.

Men’s captain Rhys Edwards ’25 also won the 200 fly against Tufts with a final time of 1:56.75. At MIT, Edwards made a splash in the 50-yard freestyle with a 21.37.

Similarly to Lillis, Edwards also considers himself a back-half swimmer in distance events, an important aspect of his race at Tufts, as he had to maintain focus in order to climb to the top.

“So for me, it was just a matter of making sure I was swimming my own race. I tend to go out easy and come back harder. At Tufts I was a back half, and the guy next to me was a front half, so I was definitely focused on staying in my own lane,” Edwards said. “It was the last 25 [yards] where I was able to swim him down, just knowing that, ‘Hey, I’ve still got this in the tank, you know, it’s not over yet.’”

At MIT, Edwards won a sprint event, a much different pace than distance that does not lend itself to the same preparation and mindset that the 200 fly required.

“We do so many [sprints] in practice that it just becomes muscle memory to a certain extent. So especially staying in your own lane [is a challenge]. If you take a peek [at your competitors] in a 50 [yard event], you lose half a second,” Edwards said.

To prepare for both events, Edwards focused on his technique in order to stay primed for both distance and sprints.

“I think I’ve just gained more appreciation from the technique side of things,” Edwards said. “There’s only so much work you can do on the physical side, changing up subtle things, like doing one more kick off the wall, which I’ve been working on, staying streamlined.”

Liam Roehr ’25 won the 200 backstroke against Tufts with a time of 1:56.34, came in second in the 100 backstroke (53.38) and finished with a 53.32 time in the 100 backstroke at MIT.

“The 200 at Tufts was the fastest I’ve ever gone without a fast skin, which is a special suit, by about a second and a half. That was very, very exciting,” Roehr said.

Furthermore, Roehr also employed a back-half pace—like Edwards—at Tufts which he attributes to his success.

“I just swim my own race, and I focus on staying near [the other swimmers]. And then at the end is when I really like to put in all the effort and try and claw my way back up,” Roehr said. “And that’s a perfect example of what happened at Tufts. The only time I was leading in that race was the last stroke into the wall. But that’s all that mattered.”

This coming weekend, both the men’s and women’s teams will compete in the Maine State Meet at Colby College in Waterville against Colby and Bates.

According to Edwards, the three schools are fairly evenly matched, creating a strong and  competitive environment.

“It’s just so good, us, Colby and Bates are in the exact same place right now. So I’m really looking forward to the competition,” Edwards said. “You know, we keep it friendly, but towards the end, especially if it gets close, it’s more intense, which is a lot of fun.”