The Middlebury men's swimming and diving team travels to Colby for the 2022 NESCAC Championships. The four-day event begins on Thursday, February 17 at 7:00 p.m. with the finals of the 800 freestyle relay at the Colby Aquatics Center. The Mules are hosting the 24-event affair for the first time in championship history which runs through Sunday, February 20.

Williams is looking to win its third-straight championship and 19th NESCAC title overall. Tufts (2018) and Middlebury (2002) are the other institutions to win a NESCAC title in the championships' history.

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2022 NESCAC MEN'S SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIP
at Colby Aquatics Center - Waterville, Maine
Thursday, February 17 – 7:00 p.m. Finals
Friday, February 18 – 10:00 a.m. Swimming Prelims / 2:00 p.m. Diving Prelims / 6:00 p.m. Finals
Saturday, February 19 – 10:00 a.m. Swimming Prelims / 2:00 p.m. Diving Prelims / 5:50 p.m. Finals
Sunday, February 20 – 10:00 a.m. Swimming Prelims / 2:00 p.m. Diving Prelims / 5:30 p.m. Finals

HOW TO WATCH
A live webcast will be available at NESCAC.com on computers and mobile devices. The webcast can also be seen on Roku, AppleTV, and Amazon Fire devices. Search for NESCAC Network and download the channel. Click here for more information.
Results will be available throughout the weekend at NESCAC.com on the Men's Swimming & Diving Championship page.

2020 RECAP
At the last NESCAC Championships held in 2020, Williams won 14 events to capture its second straight NESCAC title and 18th overall. The Ephs finished the meet with 1,987.5 points and were followed by Tufts (1,797.5 points), Amherst (1,386.5 points), Bates (959 points), and Colby (931.5 points).

FREESTYLE
Tufts junior Peter LaBarge (20.52) and Amherst senior Scott Romeyn (20.61) own the top two times in the 50 freestyle. Romeyn was the runner-up while LaBarge finished third in 2020. Colby senior John Connors rounds out the top three swimmers in the field. In the 100 freestyle, LaBarge leads the field (45.07) and will be challenged by Williams senior Jamie Lovette, a third-place finisher in 2020, and Romeyn, the 2020 runner-up. Lovette, the defending champion at the 200 freestyle distance, is seeded second entering the 2022 championship behind Tufts first-year Ethan Schreier (1:39.55).

In the distance events, Tufts sophomore Eli Houston (4:36.28) owns the top time while 2020 runner-up Jackson Karofsky, a senior from Williams, ranks second and Colby sophomore Anthony Minickiello is third. Connecticut College sophomore Matthew Laclef (9:47.64), Tufts junior Evan Szablewski, and Trinity first-year Matthew Brown rank 1-2-3 in both the 1000 and 1650 freestyle races.

BACKSTROKE
Seniors Ted Mebust of Bowdoin and Nate Tingen of Tufts return to the backstroke field after earning All-NESCAC honors at the 2020 championships in the 50 and 100 backstroke events. Bates junior Nathan Berry (22.61) has the top time at the 50-yard distance and is followed by Tufts junior Joshua Balbi and Mebust.

Tingen leads the field in the 100 backstroke (49.31) and was the runner-up in both the 100 and 200 backstroke in 2020. Teammate Eric Lindgren has the second-best time and Williams senior Paul Leclerc rounds out the top three swimmers. Lindgren (1:49.23) and Leclerc also rank 1-2 in the 200 backstroke event.

BREASTSTROKE
Williams sophomore Jacob Grover, the 2020 NESCAC Swimmer and Rookie of the Year, ranks among the top three swimmers in every breaststroke event. He is seeded second in the 50 breaststroke (25.80) behind teammate and defending champion Liam Sullivan (25.73).

Grover and Sullivan trail Bowdoin first-year Alexandre Grand'Pierre in the 100 breaststroke (55.03) where Sullivan is also the defending champion. Grover set an overall NESCAC and NESCAC meet record to win the 200 breaststroke in 2020, and owns a top time of 2:04.73 in 2022. Grand'Pierre is seeded third in the event behind Tufts first-year Darrien Johnsen.

BUTTERFLY
Williams senior David Pearcy, the 2020 NESCAC Champion in the 50 and 100 butterfly events and the runner-up in the 200, returns to the championship field. He owns the best time in the 50 butterfly (22.03) and is followed by teammates Zeb Hart and Ev Nichol in the event.

Pearcy also has the third-best time at the 100 distance while the Tufts duo of Ethan Schreier (48.84) and Joshua Balbi rank 1-2. Schreier also leads the field in the 200 butterfly with a top time of 1:48.29 while Williams senior Sean Tan, a third-place finisher from 2020, ranks second in the event. Tan will try to make extend the Ephs' streak of winning the 200 butterfly to four straight years as Lucca Delcompare won the event at the last three championships.

INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY
Three first-years are the top seeds in the 200 IM. Ethan Schreier of Tufts leads the trio (1:52.00) and is followed by teammate Brian Uribe and Bowdoin's Penn Lee. Uribe is also seeded first in the 400 IM with a time of 4:00.96. Williams senior Jackson Karofsky, the 2019 champion and the 2020 runner-up, is ranked second in the event. Defending 400 IM champion Sean Tan of Williams is also slated to be in the field of swimmers for the event.

DIVING
Williams junior Kobe Tray enters the championship with the top marks on both the 1-meter (498.15) and 3-meter boards (532.95). Tray was a third-place finisher on the 1-meter board and placed second in the 3-meter competition in 2020. Middlebury sophomore Liam Smith is also among the top three divers in both events, ranking second on the 1-meter and third on the 3-meter.

RELAYS
Tufts owns the top time in all five relay events heading into the 2022 championship and won three of the five relays in 2020 (200 and 400 freestyle and 200 medley relays). The Jumbos set new overall NESCAC and NESCAC meet records in the 400 and 800 freestyle relays while NESCAC meet records were set by Williams and Tufts in the medley relays.

--Courtesy of the NESCAC--