The Middlebury men's swimming and diving team earned sixth place while hosting the four-day NESCAC Championship held at the Natatorium. Williams claimed its 22nd title with 1,801.5 points. Tufts (1,438.5) and Amherst (1,252) closed out the top three, while Middlebury accumulated 919 points.

HIGHLIGHTS

• In the 200-yard breaststroke, Paul Shen was the lone swimmer with a sub two-minute time in the qualifying heats (1:59.89). That swim broke the program record of 2:01.87 set by Stephan Koenigsberger in 2015. During the night's championship final, Shen earned second overall, touching the wall at 2:01.09.
• John Masiello swam in the consolation final of the 200 breaststroke, improving his provisional time by over a second with a 2:02.23 to claim 10th.
• Samuel Hughes represented the Panthers in the 200 backstroke, recording an NCAA 'B' cut time of 1:47.45 in the preliminary swim to secure a spot in the championship final. He raced to fourth in the evening's race, touching the wall at 1:48.06. Jack Undercofler swam in the consolation final, earning 16 team points with his swim of 1:50.87.
• In the 200 fly, Luke McNamara made his third championship final appearance of the weekend. He shaved 0.22 seconds off his preliminary time for a clocking of 1:50.03 to claim fourth.
• Pierce Bigelow swam to ninth during the 1,650 freestyle with a time of 16:09.85.
• The Panthers closed the championship with a ninth-place effort in the 400 free relay, as the quartet of Masiello, Hughes, Ryan Mauney and Matthew Hensel combined for a time of 3:03.73. 

NOTES

• Maximillian Corey of Bates set a NESCAC, meet and Natatorium record with his preliminary time of 43.20 in the 100 free.
• Tufts' Eric Lundgren clocked a 1:45.28 in his 200 back qualifier swim, which broke the pool record.
• The Panthers finished the four-day invite with five school records and multiple NCAA 'B' cut swims.

Middlebury awaits its NCAA Championship fate when the field is announced on Wednesday, February 26.