Final tally is in and we’ve won our 4th consecutive A10 Championship.
Number 12 in the books.
GO UMASS!

The gang lived up to the UMass tradition of tough final morning swims as we placed numerous swimmers in the evening session.
The day started out with a bang as Andrew, Max, and Kyle finished 1-2-4 in the 200 Back to set the tone for the morning. Kyle’s effort (1:50+) was three seconds better than his previous lifetime best!

Trevor Ziegler

We followed that with Juan, Trevor, and Chris Howard all hitting top 8 in the 100. Trevor’s 46.1 was an incredible swim considering he’s been out of competition for two years. Pete Sacco also went a 46.5 to finish tenth. Jorge Fortin time trialled the 100 after the session in 46.8 so we’ve got some freestyle sprint depth going here!
The 200 Breast was a bit of a struggle as Dan Backler swam a 2:06 to final but Brian Schmidt continued to try but couldn’t make it back for tonight.
The 200 Fly saw Mike Berthaume and Tim Smith cruise with fairly nice swims into the big heat tonight.
We also have three time defending 1650 Champion Justin Brooks and last year’s runner-up (Joe Sbordon) leading off things at the final session of the meet this evening.
We’re looking good and pumped up for another celebration!

Adam Duffield

We’re on target for our Championship run as we really produced tonight:
100 Fly: Mike Berthaume 1st
100 Back: Andrew and Max 1-2
3 Meter Diving: Jason and Adam 1-2
400 Medley Relay: 1st

Those are the highlights as we extended our lead over Bonnie to 200+ points.
The 400 MR was thrilling as Andrew got us a nice lead, Brian Schmidt (who has struggled a bit at this meet) swam a valiant Breast leg but gave up a little bit, but then Mike, fresh out of winning the 100 Fly, blazed to a 48.3 split to set the stage for anchorman Juan Moliere. Juan had to hold off Duquesne stud Ed LeBlanc (you remember what LeBlanc did Wed. night!) and did just that with a smokin’ 44.45 on my watch!
One more day then we start working on next year.
For all you alumni who know him our old friend Archibald was at the team meeting today!!
GO UMASS!

The swimmers came to swim and the divers came to dive, as all but two morning swims will come back to compete for points tonight.
Leading the way were our J-Crew members Joe Sbordon and Jorge Fortin placing 2-3 in the 200 Free. Freshman Eric ‘Zippy’ Zeimetz just missed qualifying in the 100 fly but surprised everyone by climbing out of the pool and swimming a 1:43 to place 12th in the next event, the 200 Free.

Mike Berthaume

Seniors Mike Berthaume (2nd) and Andrew Willbrant (1st) swam great times to get into top spots in the Finals in the 100 Fly and 100 Back respectively. This is where the UMass depth showed as we put Chris Howard in finals of the fly with a great 50.3 swim (also added Sasan Tehrani and Tim Smith in consols) and then ganged up on the Conference in the 100 Back as Max Butler, Jorge Fortin, and Trevor Ziegler all finished top 8 and Kyle Jennings consoled! Add to the fast swimming with Brian Schmidt and Dan Backler coming back in the big heat (5 & 6) of tonight’s 100 Breast and you’re looking at a solid AM session. Not to be outdone the divers just threw three guys in the show tonight with Jason Cook again qualifying first.
Stay tuned!

200 Free Relay

50 Free Final

200 IM Final

500 Free Final