After posting respectable results in their opening meet of the season, the swimming and diving team will travel to Cambridge this weekend to compete in the MIT Invitational. The two-day meet will give both men's and women's teams an opportunity to compete against fellow NESCAC schools Colby and Tufts, as well as out-of conference schools MIT, Brandeis, Wheaton and NYU.
At the invitational, the team looks to focus on technique and racing strategies, as well as to improve upon their previous performance two weekends ago.
On November 21, the Polar Bears played host to MIT and Babson at a tri-meet held at Leroy Greason Pool. The men's and women's teams split their competition, soundly defeating Babson but falling to a strong MIT squad.
The women's team handily outscored Babson by a margin of 140 points (215-75), but lost to the Engineers 203-96. The men's team posted similar results, beating Babson 185-99 but falling to MIT 232-57.
"We were happy to outscore Babson and win many of the events versus MIT. They have been training since the beginning of October and we have only been in season since November 1," said Head Coach Brad Burnham.
The Bowdoin men showed their strength in the relays, finishing second ahead of Babson in both the 400-yard freestyle relay and the 200-yard medley relay.
Nathan Mecray '12 led the men's team in individual events, with a pair of close second place finishes in the 100-yard freestyle and breastroke. In both events, Mecray was within 0.4 seconds of the top finisher. Basyl Stuyvesant '13 also fared well, finishing second in the 200-yard backstroke.
Strong performances by Mac Routh '12 in the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly also allowed Bowdoin to surge ahead of Babson.
Headlining the performances of the women's team were first-place swims by Allison Palmer '11, Caitlin Callahan '11, and Allen Garner '12. Garner won the 1000-yard freestyle with a six-second margin, while Callahan finished first in the 100-breastroke.
Palmer performed well in the sprint freestyle events, winning the 50-yard freestyle and finishing second in the 100-yard race.
Additionally, the women held their own in the relay events, placing second in both the 200-yard medley and 400-yard freestyle relays.
"The first meet went really well and some people went best times, which is always a great way to start the season," said men's tri-captain Matt Kwan '10. "There was definitely a lot of energy in the air."