Program Notes


 NCAA Qualifier Charlotte Green '11
Bates College's swimming and diving program competes at the highest level in perhaps the most competitive conference in Division III, the New England Small College Athletic Conference, meanwhile emphasizing discipline among team members in negotiating Bates' academic rigors.

2008-09 Season Review

The Bates College swimming and diving team made incredible strides this season, breaking and setting numerous records all season long.

Five seniors, including tri-captains Chris Berry (August, Maine), Nate Cooper (Chestertown, Md.) and William Walsh (Huntington, N.Y.), led the 2008-09 men’s team. However, the team was predominantly filled with young talent including four sophomores and 10 new first-years on the 19-person roster.

The men and women’s teams finished the season with a combined dual-meet record of 8-17-1. While the record may not have been exactly what the teams were hoping for, the Bobcats could not have imagined a more successful year for individual swimmers and relay teams who shattered numerous previous personal records and Bates records.

 
Much of the action came during the men and women’s NESCAC Championships. The men broke a total of 13 team records at the NESCAC Championships while placing ninth out of 11 teams. Berry had a hand in breaking seven program records at NESCACs, finishing with the Bates record in the 100 free relay in his leadoff leg of the 400-yard freestyle relay. Bates records in the 800-yard, 400-yard and 200-yard freestyle relay races were broken as well as the 400-yard and 200-yard medley relay races.

Swimmers Berry, Dan Aupi (Branford, Conn.), Ned Scott (Maplewood, N.J.), Alex McKeown (South Windsor, Conn.), Pat Carroll (North Andover, Mass.), Nathaniel Depew (Hudson, Ohio), Jake MacNaughton (Scarsdale, N.Y.), Matt Lipoff (Glencoe, Ill.) and  Mark Andrews (Cumberland, Maine) all had a hand in breaking at least one of the 13 Bates records during the NESCAC Championships.

The 2008-09 women’s roster was also dominated by first-years, with 12 rookie women joining the team this year. The team was led by tri-captains Alexis Boyatsis and Bailey Johnson, both seniors, and junior Katelyn Drake.

The women’s team also broke numerous records at the NESCAC Championships and went on to send two swimmers, Drake (Hudson, Ohio) and Charlotte Green (New Caanan, Conn.), and diver Kelsey Lamdin (Brunswick, Maine) to the NCAA Championships in Minnesota.

 Two-time All-American Katelyn Drake '10
Lamdin, a senior, swept the two diving events at the NESCAC Championships, breaking a Bowdoin pool record with her preliminary score of 447.60 in the one-meter finals. Lamdin also added 0.30 points to her own previous Bates record in the three-meter event, set at NCAAs last year. Junior Annaliese Rudis (North Andover, Mass.) placed seventh in the three-meter dive finals after placing fifth in the finals of the one-meter dive. Drake recorded a third-place finish in the 200-yard backstroke final with a time of 2:05.08, breaking her own Bates record in the event. She also took third place in the 100-yard backstroke final.

Green placed second in the 50-yard freestyle finals. She followed up her second-place finish with a fifth-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle finals and a seventh-place finish in the finals of the 200-yard freestyle placed fifth in the 100-yard freestyle finals. Bates first-year Kara Leasure (Los Alamos, N.M.) raced to an eighth-place finish out of 31 competitors in the 1650-yard freestyle. She also earned an eighth-place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke finals as well.

The Bates relay team of Drake, Green, junior Sarah Reingold (Oakland, Calif.) and first-year Emily Tato (Chatham, N.J.) placed fourth out of 22 teams with a time of 3:34.3, beating the previous Bates record of 3:36.00 set a year ago.

 8-time All-American Kelsey Lamdin '09
At the NCAAs, Lamdin was competing for her seventh and eighth All-American awards in the one and three-meter dives. Lamdin achieved her goal of eight All-American awards in her career, a Bates diving record, and she attracted a great deal of attention in the way she went about getting No. 8, injuring herself during warmups and returning from the emergency room just in time to finish 10th in the 1-meter. Drake was also looking for another All-American award after earning one last year in the 200-yard backstroke. She competed in three events, the 100- and 200-yard backstroke and the 200-yard individual medley. Drake would claim her second All-American honors this time in the 100-yard backstroke, breaking her own Bates record in the event. Green made her first appearance at the NCAAs competing in the 50-, 100- and 200-yard freestyle.

To read more about Bates swimmers and divers, visit the Bobcat Chronicle.