In an exciting meet, both the men's and women's swim teams triumphantly beat Trinity and narrowly lost to Wesleyan in the first home contest of the year.
The Polar Bears went into last Saturday's meet with large expectations, coming off of two consecutive weekends of victories for both the men and women against Bates and University of Maine-Orono.
Although the meet was technically against Wesleyan and Trinity, perennial rival Colby was also present. Though the Polar Bears were not scored directly against the Mules, it nonetheless served as a preview for Saturday's duel to settle the Bowdoin/Colby rivalry. The women's competition, despite fostering some incredible swims, was not particularly close in the team scores. The Polar Bears lost to the Wesleyan Cardinals 159-134 and dominated the Trinity Bantams 208-72. Three sophomores produced all the individual wins for the women: Allison Palmer (50-yard freestyle), Caitlin Callahan (100-yard breaststroke), and Megan Sullivan (100-yard butterfly and 200-yard freestyle). Additionally, the relay squad of Erin McAuliffe '11, Callahan, Emma Chiappetta '11, and Palmer won the 200 medley relay by a margin of almost two seconds to start the meet.
However, it was the second place finish from senior Liz Dann that provided arguably the most exciting race on the women's side. In the 200-yard breaststroke, Dann was seeded in the outside lane 1, far away from the traditionally faster center lanes. Yet, despite this distance, Dann stayed within half a second of the race leader the entire competition and provided an example of perseverance, proving why she is one of the team's tri-captains.
On the men's side, the competition was fierce and tight throughout the duration of the meet. Although the final score put the Bears up on the Bantams 165-132 and at a loss to the Cardinals 149-146, the meet itself saw a flipping of scores at an event-by-event basis.
Out of the heat of this competition, senior Max Goldstein and sophomore Christian Hurst played especially crucial roles. Swimming together in the 200-yard butterfly and the 200-yard individual medley, this powerful duo would go 1-2 and 1-3 respectively in both events with the veteran Goldstein leading the way. These impressive team swims bolstered moral and forged a way for Bowdoin's success.
Wins from the dynamic first year duo of Nathan Mecray and Mac Routh (50-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly, respectively), coupled with the dominant relay victories in the 200-yard medley relay (Routh, Mecray, Dominic Finelli '12, and David Swanson '09), and the 200-yard freestyle relay (Mecray, Routh, Blake Wheale '09, and Swanson) rounded out Bowdoin's first place finishes.
Routh, whose 100-yard butterfly was also a personal best time, was pleased with the team's performance in the meet.
"It was motivational to see everyone performing so well," he said. "Also, us being close to Wesleyan was very exciting...you can see by the score that one race could've changed the outcome. It sets us up well for the NESCACs."
The Bowdoin swim teams will be hosting Colby on Saturday at home.