MEN'S SWIMMING MAKES HISTORY WITH FIRST NEAC CHAMPIONSHIP
Aurora, N.Y.– The Wells College men's swimming team made history on Saturday evening capturing the first North Eastern Athletic Conference Championship in school history. The Express finished with a two day total of 470.5, topping NEAC rivals SUNYIT (410.5 pts.), Cazenovia College (295 pts.), and SUNY Cobleskill (180 pts.) for the title. In the three years as a member of the NEAC, Wells has made only two appearances in the conference championship, women's tennis in 2007 and men's basketball in 2008-2009, both teams came up short in their bid for championship.
Junior transfer Jeffrey Dick earned NEAC Men's Swimmer of the Year for his impressive performance in the pool. Dick earned two individual first place finishes, while helping to lead four different relay teams to first place finishes in the championship. Dick set school records in the men's 200 Yard Individual Medley (2:13.36) and 100 Yard Breaststroke (1:04.01).
Overall, the men's team set 12 new school records over the two day event. Michael Scharvella set records in the men's 100 Yard Backstroke (1:03.41) and 200 Yard Backstroke (2:26.95), while his 54.79 in the men's 100 Yard Freestyle ranks second all-time. Drew Teter improved his record in the men's 100 Yard Freestyle with a time of 52.68 shaving over a second off his best time. Teter also set the record in the men's 200 Yard Freestyle with a time of 1:57.43. Dan Schilling rounded the individual performances setting school records in the men's 400 Yard I.M. (5:11.19) and the men's 200 Yard Butterfly (2:30.38).
Schilling, Scharvella, Dick, and Teter formed the men's 200 Yard Free Relay, 200 Yard Medley Relay, and 400 Yard Medley Relay teams. All four set school records in the three relays with times of 1:37.76, 1.49.14, 4:01.67 respectively, while the 400 Free Relay team swam by Scharvella, Court Carnahan, Dick, and Teter set the school record with a time of 3:26.29.
The men's team now has a two and half week lay-off before traveling to Syracuse, N.Y. for the New York State Swimming Championship set for February 26 through the 28th Nottingham H.S.
