Posted: Feb 18, 2018

Ronan, May Lead Wells Rally To Claim Second At NEAC Meet

The Wells College men's swimming team rallied on the final day of competition at the 2018 North Eastern Athletic Conference Championships to overtake Gallaudet University and move into second place in the team standings. Wells finished with 394 points, trailing host school SUNY Cobleskill (498), and ahead of Gallaudet (379) and Cazenovia (196).

Wells earned 41 team points by sweeping the top-three places in the 200-yard breaststroke. Ian Ronan won the NEAC championship with a time of 2:32.86. Aaron Connolly was second in 2:40.38 and Arthur Brooks took third in 2:44.09. Connolly's prelim time of 2:38.78 ranks seventh on the Wells top-10 list in the event.

Owen May claimed Wells' second individual event title of the meet by finishing first in the 1,650-yard freestyle in 19:14.61. It was just three seconds short of his school record in the event. Brandon Sprague took third in the 1,650 free with a time of 20:09.92, which is fourth-best in program history and improved on his time from the 2016 conference meet by 43 seconds. Richard Ford was fourth in the event in 21:56.49, the eighth-best time in Wells history.

Ronan earned second place in the 100-yard individual medley with a time of 1:04.58 in the event finals. Ronan is the school record-holder in the event at 1:04.28, set in the 2017 NEAC Championships.

Aaron Connolly took third in the 100 IM with a time of 1:09.33. Connolly swam 1:08.20 in the event prelims, which ranks fourth in Wells history in the 100 IM.

Shawn Snell placed third in the 200-yard butterfly with a career-best time of 3:03.09 which ranks eighth in program history.

Wells wrapped up the meet with a second-place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay in 3:56.31 by the team of Brooks, Connolly, Ronan, and May.

Over the nine-year history of the NEAC championship meet, Wells has been first or second six times. This year's second-place finish for Wells is the third time in program history that the Express has claimed runner-up status. Wells has also won three team titles at the NEACs.