The Panther swimming and diving teams returned to action against Amherst on Saturday in the Middlebury Natatorium. The women fell by a 179.5-118.5 count to #10 Amherst, while the men were defeated by the 13th-ranked Purple & White 179.5-113.5. Middlebury will complete first-semester competition next Saturday when it travels to Springfield for a dual meet beginning at 1:00 p.m.

During the men's competition, Michael McGean picked up a pair of top-two efforts individually in the distance freestyle events. He won the 1,000 free with a time of 9:47.59, touching the wall ahead of the nearest competitor by more than 25 seconds. McGean claimed the runner-up spot in the 500 free in 4:42.70, just .34 seconds behind Amherst's Eric Wong.

Connor McCormick posted a win as well for the Panthers in the 200 individual medley with a mark of 2:02.38, while he was second in the 200 free (1:47.22). Runner-up efforts in the pool were also tallied by Brendan Leech in 200 back (1:59.22) and Trey Oehmler in the 200 IM (2:03.88).

In the final event of the meet, the Middlebury 400 free relay quartet of Leech, Jack Dowling, Andrew Grant and McGean led the field to the wall in 3:19.69.

During the diving events, Mike Chirico won the 1-meter event with 297.60 points, while teammate Will Greene was second (239.10). In the 3-meter event, the two switched spots as Greene claimed the event with 287.03 points, while Chirico earned the runner-up spot (257.63).

On the women's side, Morgan Burke tied for the victory in the 50 free (25.17) with Amherst's Destin Groff. Burke picked up a second-place finish in the 100 free (54.91). Another individual event title came from Celia Ripple in the 200 breaststroke (2:27.45), while she was second in the 100 breaststroke (1:06.58).

Other runner-up swims were recorded by Nora O'Leary in the 200 breaststroke (2:28.20) and Jessica Lipton second in the 200 fly (2:15.44).

In the first event of the meet, the 200 medley relay quartet of Claire Treesh, Ripple, Frances VanderMeer and Burke (1:50.19) finished second, while the 400 free relay team of Kristin Karpowicz, Burke, VanderMeer and Stephanie Andrews won the final event on Saturday with a time of 3:40.55.

On the diving boards, Elissa DeNunzio won the 3-meter diving title with 238.43 points, while she was second in the 1-meter event (222.45).