The competition was stiff at last weekend's MIT Invitational, but the swimming and diving teams held their own, with several impressive first year performances leading the way.
Bowdoin faced competition from six additional teams, including fellow NESCAC opponents Colby and Tufts. The women swam to a 318-point sixth place finish, narrowly edging out Brandeis by a ten-point margin. Meanwhile, the men scored 304 points to place in fifth, ahead of Colby and Wheaton.
NYU swept the meet for the women, while MIT took first-place honors in the men's competition.
First year Katherine Foley led the women's team in the middle-distance freestyle events, placing second in both the 200- and 500-yard races. Co-captain Allison Palmer '11 and Allen Garner '12 also posted top-five finishes in the 50-yard freestyle and 200-yard backstroke, respectively. Rounding out the top individual performances from the Polar Bears was junior Caitlin Callahan's fourth-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke.
Garner and Palmer, joined by Kaley Kokomoor '13 and Megan Sullivan '12, swam to a fifth-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay. The women also placed fifth in the 800-yard freestyle relay.
The men's relays also fared well, with the 200-yard medley relay team of Basyl Stuyvesant '13, Nathan Mecray '12, Mac Routh '12 and EJ Googins '13 finishing in third just ahead of NYU and Tufts. The 200-yard freestyle relay of Mecray, Googins, Routh and David Wells '10 finished in sixth.
Stuyvesant showed his speed in the backstroke events, earning a pair of fourth-place finishes in the 100- and 200-yard races. Mecray finished second in the 100-yard breaststroke and fifth in the 200-yard event.
Despite overall low finishes for both teams, Head Coach Brad Burnham said he was pleased with the Polar Bears' performance.
"This meet is a perfect way for us to end the semester," he said. "Everyone can do a lot of events and just focus on the process of better racing."
Bowdoin now faces a month-long hiatus from competition, and will return to the pool to compete against Bates on January 16.