The Middlebury men's swimming and diving team amassed 702 total points to finish in eighth place at the NESCAC Championship. Colby hosted the four-day event. Claiming its seventh straight team title was #21 Williams with 1,599 total points, while #13 Tufts garnered runner-up accolades with 1,562 points and #16 Amherst tallied 1,217 points to take third.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Matthew Sonne clocked a 1:51.36 in the 200-yard backstroke, finishing third in the consolation final and 11th.
• In the second heat of the 200 breaststroke, Paul Shen posted an 11th-place clocking of 2:01.89, improving his seed time by 2.23 seconds.
• Luke McNamara recorded the third-fastest time in the consolation final of the 200 butterfly, touching the wall in 1:50.45 for 11th on the leaderboard.
• Keith Hartman secured 13th in the 1,650 freestyle, stopping the clock at 16:17.49.
• In the 400 free relay, the Panther quartet of Andrew Dou, Rodin McKenna, Cal Hale and Masiello posted a time of 3:06.21, good for ninth place. Claiming 17th in the event was the group of Ryan Mauney, Sonne, McNamara and Jason Chiappinelli (3:06.07).

NOTES

• Carrick Shea of Connecticut College established a conference, meet and pool record in the 200 breast at 1:55.12. The time missed an NCAA 'A' cut by 0.23 seconds.
• The Panthers conclude the four-day invite with a pair of school records and one NCAA 'B' cut effort.

Middlebury awaits its NCAA Championship fate when the field is announced on Friday, February 27.