"Awards Show Countdown": Men's Swimming

"Awards Show Countdown" is a Wells College Athletics feature that reviews a memorable moment from each team while counting down to showtime. With 6 days remaining until the virtual online Express Awards Show, let's take a look at a moment from the men's swimming team's 2019-20 season.

The Wells College men's swimming team finished its final season in the North Eastern Athletic Conference with a third-place finish during the 2020 NEAC Championships at SUNY Cobleskill the weekend of Feb. 14-16. The team is set to compete in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference starting in 2020-21.

What made this February weekend memorable was the team's performance on the second day of the championships. Holding on to a one-point lead for third place heading into the second day, the men's team secured a pair of first-place finishes that propelled them into a far enough lead into the final day that resulted in securing a top-three finish.

Aaron Connolly won the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:14.52, while Vincent Chen captured first place in the 100-yard backstroke with a 1:01.36 time. For Chen, it marked Wells College's second-best career time in that event. The freshman had ranked third all-time as one of his nine top-10 Wells College times and bested his previous top-10 breaststroke time by .66 seconds.

On the third day, Connolly finished second twice with runner-up finishes in the 100 IM (1:11.41) and the 200-yard breaststroke (2:48.75), while Chen was awarded the NEAC Rookie of the Year. During the three days of the championships, Chen earned first place in the 100-yard backstroke, as well as a second-place finish in the 50-yard freestyle (:24.81) and another second-place in the 100-yard freestyle (:54.03).