The Middlebury men's swimming and diving team sits in seventh place after the first full days of competition at the 2020 NESCAC Men's Swimming & Diving Championships hosted by Williams. The Ephs lead with 832.5 points, followed by Tufts (749.5) and Amherst (602). The Panthers currently own 285.5 points heading into Saturday's events, which begin at 10:00 a.m.

On Thursday, the 800-yard freestyle relay squad comprised of Chris Weber, Fran Curran, Jake Gaughan and Aidan McKenrick placed 10th in the event, touching the wall in 7:02.25.

In the final event Friday evening, Ben Merz, Bryan Chang, Will Pannos and Corey Jalbert had the team's best finish of the night, placing fourth in the 400 medley relay with a time of 3:26.25.

Friday night's action saw the 200 free relay team comprised of Jalbert, Gaughan, Isaac Esposito and Pannos place eighth overall with a time of 1:24.35.

In the 50 breaststroke, Chang touched the wall in ninth (26.44), while Jacob Fleisher was 17th (27:06). Alec Wilson turned in a 15th-place finish in the 500 free (4:40.75), while Merz was 20th in the 50 backstroke, clocking a time of 24.58.

Pannos and Jalbert each earned a pair of top-20 finishes on Friday night. Pannos did so in the 50 butterfly (16th-23.34) and 50 free (16th-21.43), while Jalbert was 17th in the 50 fly (23.20) and 14th in the 50 free (21.34)

On the boards, Jason Rickenbacher finished in ninth place during the one-meter diving competition with 32.50 points.