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Chang
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Jones
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Aupi
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Boniface
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Scott
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Carroll
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Duvvuri
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Johns
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Buehler
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McKeown
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BRUNSWICK, Maine -- Rookie Won Ho Chang won the conference title in the 200-yard butterfly, leading the Bates College men's swimming and diving team to seventh place at the end of the NESCAC Men's Swimming and Diving Championships, the Bobcats' highest conference finish since they were sixth in 2003.
Chang (Seoul, Korea) became the Bates men's first event champion in the 11-year history of the NESCAC Swimming and Diving Championship, leaping out to the lead after the first 50 yards and maintaining it with the top final split in the field, 28.46 seconds, for a final national B cut time of 1:52.13. During Sunday morning's preliminary heats, Chang broke his own school record in the event (set in January) with a time of 1:52.46.
Chang, who also finished second in the 50 fly on Friday, is Bates' first male to place in the top three in an event at NESCACs since diver Erik Baker '04 also did it twice in 2004. The freshman broke four team event records on his own in the meet, and also helped set two team relay records.
Bates finished the meet with 619 points, edging Hamilton (607.5) for seventh place and within 100 points of fifth-place Connecticut College and sixth-place Bowdoin.
Other Sunday highlights for the Bobcats included:
- Sophomore Travis Jones (Ithaca, N.Y.) made the finals of the 3-meter diving, where he placed sixth with a score of 352.30 points.
- After a prelim time of 1:56.37 in the 200 backstroke, junior Dan Aupi (Branford, Conn.) placed seventh in the A Final at 1:57.03.
- Junior Tom Boniface (Youngstown, Ohio) finished 20th overall in the 100 free in 48.28, after a prelim time of 47.98.
- Bates finished the meet by taking sixth place in the 400 free relay. Chang, Aupi, junior Ned Scott (Maplewood, N.J.) and Boniface fought off Hamilton by one hundredth of a second in 3:08.67.
Saturday Recap
The Bates men's swimming and diving team set four team records on Saturday, with all four involving Chang, and finished the second day of the NESCAC Championships in seventh place among 11 teams.
Chang completed his takeover of the butterfly portion of the Bates men's team record book, taking fourth place in the A Final of the 100 fly in 50.04 seconds, a national B cut time. In Saturday morning's prelims, Chang swam a 50.21, breaking Ned Scott's former team record of 51.05.
Scott led three Bobcats in the B Final in 52.35 seconds, after a prelim time of 52.08. senior Pat Carroll (North Andover, Mass.) was 15th in 52.90, and first-year Venkatesh Duvvuri (South Orange, N.J.) was 16th in 52.95.
Bates started off Saturday's evening session by breaking the team record in the 200-yard medley relay with a seventh-place time of 1:35.37. Sophomore Matt Johns (Seaford, N.Y.) led off with a 24.73-second backstroke leg, followed by Aupi in a 26.95-second breaststroke split, Chang's 22.35-second butterfly leg and Scott's 21.34-second freestyle anchor sprint. Bates' previous record in the event was 1:35.64, recorded by Chris Berry '09, junior Alex McKeown (South Windsor, Conn.), Scott and Aupi in 2009.
Aupi later swam to 10th place in the 100 backstroke, with a B Final time of 52.89. Johns placed 16th in 56.26.
Bates finished Saturday's portion of the meet by demolishing the team record in the 800 free relay with a fifth-place time of 6:58.30, and Chang broke the team's 200 freestyle record at the same time. Chang's leadoff leg of 1:42.78 chopped 1.68 seconds off of Bates' former 200 freestyle record of 1:44.46 set by junior Nathaniel Depew (Hudson, Ohio) in 2009. Chang was followed in the relay by Aupi, junior Matt Lipoff (Glencoe, Ill.) and Boniface, whose anchor split of 1:44.08 held off Tufts for fifth place. The previous team mark of 7:08.03 was set at last year's NESCAC meet by Boniface, junior Kick Sullivan (Westfield, Mass.), Jake MacNaughton '10 and Depew.
Bates ended the second day of the three-day championships with 473 points, seventh out of 11 teams.
Friday Recap
Chang finished second in the 50-yard butterfly, as the Bobcats took fifth place after one day of the NESCAC Men's Swimming and Diving Championships on Friday at Bowdoin.
Chang's prelim time of 22.78 seconds broke Scott's team record in the event. Chang then sliced .07 seconds more off the record in the final, taking second place in 22.71 seconds. Scott, whose former record of 22.99 was set in 2009, led three Bobcats in the B Final in 23.39 seconds. Duvvuri was 11th in 23.60 and Carroll was 16th in 23.97.
Other strong performances for Bates included:
- Bates placed sixth in the 200 free relay at 1:25.31, with Aupi, Carroll, Boniface and Chang handling the relay legs.
- Travis Jones placed seventh in the finals of the 1-meter diving competition, with 354.60 points.
- Johns and Aupi placed ninth and 10th, respectively, in the 50 backstroke, at 24.70 and 25.00 in the B Final.
- Boniface took 12th place in the 200 individual medley at 1:58.49, while sophomore Andrew Buehler (Kenwilworth, Ill.) was 16th at 2:00.54.
- Johns, McKeown, Scott and Boniface swam to eighth place in the finals of the 400 medley relay, at 3:33.28.
Meet Results
