Worcester, MA --- The meet host WPI men's swimming and diving team closed out the four-day NEWMAC Championships by holding onto the second-place position the Engineers took into the final session at the WPI Sports and Recreation Center.
The 400 free relay team of Ben List (Bedford, MA), Nathan Hughes (Arlington, VA), Alex Powers (Glocester, RI), and Andrew Bauer (Cumberland, RI) finished second (3:03.48) to close the meet with WPI's top finish on Sunday, falling by 0.64 seconds en route to a second-place team finish with 1,103.5 points.
MIT won the NEWMAC Championship meet with 1,608.5 points, although the hosts owned a hefty 129-point margin over third-place Coast Guard (874.5) in the seven-team meet. It was the highest finish for the Engineers in program history, while WPI swimmers set 13 school records across the four days of competition.
The 400 free relay met the NCAA-B cut, while three members also shone in the 100 free final as Bauer (46.39), List (46.55) and Hughes (46.65) came in 4-5-6.
Powers also excelled in the 200 back (6th, 1:56.22), coming in ahead of Matt Houghton (Berkley, MA) (9th, 1:56.84). Phineas O'Brien-Milne (Gettysburg, PA) was tops in the consolation final of the same event, clocking in at 1:57.85.
Tim Petri (Eksjo, Sweden) (2:05.74) and Andrew Kelleher (Poughquag, NY) (2:08.46) finished 4-5 in men's 200 breast as Petri's time met the NCAA-B cut.
Adam McNally (Leominster, MA) also won in the consolation final in 2:09.95.
In the 1,650 free, Nick Houghton (Berkley, MA) (16:41.09) and Jonathan Decelle (Rumson, NJ) (17:02.70) finished back-to-back in sixth and seventh, while Patrick Lebold (Worcester, PA) (17:40.99) and Keahi Goodale (Kailua-Kona, HI) (17:42.46) did the same, coming in 12th and 13th place in the mile.
Seth MacDonald (Sherrill, NY) placed sixth in the 200 fly (1:54.77) giving WPI the top swimmer not on MIT as the Cambridge Engineers swept the top five.
WPI now awaits the announcement of its potential NCAA Division III qualifiers when results are finalized in early March.
Release by Carl Setterlund - WPI Athletics Intern - Emerson '14
