Men’s Swimming Claims Third NEAC Championship Title

CAZENOVIA, N.Y. – Entering the third and final day of competition trailing SUNY Cobleskill by 17 points, strong performances by the Wells College men's swimming team catapulted the Express to its third North Eastern Athletic Conference Men's Swimming and Diving Championship title on Sunday.

Wells posted 508.5 points across the three-day championships, edging second place SUNY Cobleskill by only two points (506.5). Gallaudet finished in third place with 345 points while Cazenovia picked up 83 points to place fourth.

In total, Wells claimed its first NEAC Championship in men's swimming since 2012-13 on the backs of 45 career-low times, 23 NEAC All-Conference placements and two program records. Wells also made 24 new additions to the All-Wells Top 10 program record board across the three-day event.

Wells is the only institution within the NEAC to boast a total of six men's and women's titles – in addition to Sunday's come-from-behind victory, the men won the inaugural championship meet in 2009-10 and later won in 2012-13. The women won three-straight league titles from 2011-12 to 2013-14.

Head Coach Trish George, in her 10th season at Wells, earned NEAC Co-Coach of the Year for her work with the men's swimming program this past season. Assisted by Matthew Sleezer '14 in 2015-16, George has won Coach of the Year honors on three separate occasions, doing so with the women's squad in 2013 and with the men's program in 2014.

Trailing in points entering day three, Wells earned a quick 23 points in the 100 Yard Individual Medley with a fourth and fifth place finishes from freshman Jordan Johnson (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and classmate Arthur Brooks (Morristown, N.J.), respectively, with times of 1:05.75 and 1:08.04. In the very next event, junior Keith Davenport (Weedsport, N.Y.) claimed first place in the 200 Yard Backstroke by over four seconds (2:30.56) to secure 16 points.

Freshman Austin Heil (Medina, N.Y.) followed with a second place finish in the 100 Yard Freestyle (52.26), collecting 13 points, while Brooks completed the 200 Yard Breaststroke in 2:41.59 to collect a second place finish. Sophomore Tyler Lewis (Chittenango, N.Y.) also posted a fast time in the 200 Yard Breaststroke, touching the wall in 2:51.47.

As one of only two entrants in the 200 Yard Butterfly, Davenport's time of 3:23.87 earned 13 points before the 400 Yard Freestyle Relay of junior Lucas Donnenwirth (Frankfort, N.Y.), Johnson, sophomore Owen May (Warsaw, N.Y.) and Heil captured second place with a time of 3:41.86 to draw 26 points.

Wells earned all three podium finishes in the 1,650 Yard Freestyle as May (19:33.39), Donnenwirth (21:22.99) and freshman Brandon Sprague (Brockton, Mass.) (21:36.20) placed first through third in the seven-swimmer field to earn a whopping 41 points for Wells in just that event alone.