Men’s swimming and diving headed for NESCAC Championships

Posted by: Andy Walter on February 28, 2008

LEWISTON, Maine — The 2007-08 season comes to a head for the Bates College men’s swimming and diving team this weekend, as the Bobcats join 10 teams in converging on Middlebury College for the NESCAC Championships.

The meet promises to be a grueling one for the Bobcats, who sport a smaller roster than their competition. Bates will look to improve upon its 11th-place showing from last year and notch as many personal-best performances as possible.

Junior backstroke specialist Chris Berry (Augusta, Maine) will attempt to break into the championship finals in the 50-, 100- and 200-yard backstroke events, in which he finished 10th, 10th and 12th, respectively, in last year’s NESCACs held at Bowdoin College.

Meanwhile, senior team captain and diver Dan Perry (Exeter, N.H.), who has already qualified for his first trip to the NCAA Championships in both 1-meter and 3-meter diving, will also look to move up in the conference standings. Perry was seventh at 1 meter and eighth at 3 meters last year.

Competition will get underway each day with preliminary heats at 10:00 a.m. Finals will begin at 6 p.m. on Friday, 5:50 p.m. Saturday, and 5:30 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets are $5 per session or $25 for a weekend pass for adults and $2 per session or $10 for a weekend pass for children and students. Doors will open two hours prior to the heats and fi nals. A complete championship schedule along with real-time results will be available at www.nescac.com.

Read Head Coach Peter Casares’s blog at http://batesswimming.blogspot.com/