College Swimming: Bates sending program-record 12 swimmers to NCAAs

The Bobcats’ men’s and women’s swimming and diving team rewrote the history books this year after doing much of the same last season.

After sending a then-program record five swimmers to the NCAA Championships in 2014, Bates shattered that mark this year as 12 Bobcats will make the trip down to Shenandoah, Texas for the 2015 NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships. While the hard work has paid off in the meet results for the past two seasons, it’s been building for much longer.

“It’s an eight-year run,” eighth-year coach Peter Casares said. “We’ve been slowly building for eight years and we hit a critical threshold of talent and belief. We’ve had people performing great year after year and improving year after year and that coupled with a few talented individuals on both the men’s and women’s side has allowed us to have a couple breakthrough performances in terms of our relays. When those relays get going to the national meet you start to bring some bigger numbers.”

Of the 12 swimmers heading to the national meet, eight come from the women’s side. Four of the eight were there last year — juniors Lindsey Prelgovisk and Caroline Depew and sophomores Sara Daher and Julia Smachlo. Daher will compete in three individual events and four relays. She is seeded fifth in the 200-yard individual medley based on her season-best time of 2 minutes, 4.37 seconds. Daher is also seeded ninth in the 400 IM.

Daher garnered four All-American honors during her freshman season, while Smachlo tallied three. Prelgovisk and Depew each earned one, giving the quartet nine combined honors.

Daher reached the consolation final in the 200 backstroke and placed 13th, 10 spots ahead of her seeding. The biggest takeaway from her first trip to the national meet was to simply have fun.

“It’s a little icing on the cake of having a great season and just being competitive with some incredible athletes from all across the country,” Daher said. “It’s just an awesome experience to be apart of. It was just a great experience all-around.”

Daher is one of two Bobcats swimming in seven events. Freshman Logan McGill will participate in the 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle, 100 butterfly and four relays. McGill is seeded seventh in the 50 freestyle with a time of 23.27, which she set in the NESCAC Championships.

McGill is one of five freshmen who qualified for the national meet — Nell Houde and Anabel Carter on the women’s side and Riley Ewing and Theodore Pender on the men’s side are the others.

Junior Whitney Paine, who holds the school record for both the 50 backstroke (26.22) and 100 backstroke (57.35), will compete in the 100 backstroke as well as in three relays at the national meet to round out the women’s qualifiers.

The eight qualifiers will swim in 13 different events, showcasing their talent across the board.

The other four qualifiers come from the men’s side. Matt Gagne and Andrew Briggs, both senior captains, make the trip along with Ewing and Pender. All four will compete in the 200 freestyle relay, 400 freestyle relay, 200 medley relay and 400 medley relay. Gagne will also swim the 100 and 200 butterfly, while Briggs will swim the 100 breaststroke and Ewing the 200 backstroke.

Last year, Gagne became the Bobcats’ first male swimmer since Erik Baker in 2004 to qualify for the state meet.

“Last year the goal was to make it there and when I got there it was to just soak up the experience for what it was and then use that this year,” Gagne said. “I was lucky enough to make it again and last year, it’s a different experience going to the national meet because you’re around teams from all across the country, you’re not just in the New England bubble. There’s an extra level of competition we don’t normally see.”

Relays have been a strong suit for both the men and women. The Bobcats qualified a total of nine relay teams. The women qualified the same four relays as the men as well as the 800 freestyle. Bates set eight new program records this season in the relays. Pender has been part of all four for the men’s side, while McGill has played a part in the four on the women’s side.

“This program’s been built around relays,” Casares said. “We have strong individuals here, but we’ve always believed that if you’re bringing relays to the national meet, you’re going to be able to score points, and that’s what it’s about. It’s about swimming for Bates. When you swim on a relay, that takes an individual sport to the highest team level and that’s what we’re most proud of, that we’re going as a team, not just as individuals.”

The Bobcats come into the national meet with plenty of momentum. Both squads are coming off their best showing at the NESCAC Championships in program history. The women, who ranked 17th nationally as of Jan. 22, finished second behind Williams College. They broke 10 school records and McGill’s time of 23.27 in the 50 freestyle set a new conference mark.

“The amount of support and love on this team is something that gets us to be so successful and the compatibility everyone has on the team just helps a lot,” Daher said. “Especially when you’re at practice or when you’re at meets and you’re on the grind and it gets really difficult, you have everyone there supporting you, so it makes it easier to push through difficult times.”

The men took fifth, improving on their previous-best sixth-place finish the year prior. Nineteen team records were broken over the three-day meet.

“I think we just had a different level of commitment this year across the board and it really showed in both men’s and women’s NESCACs,” Gagne said. “I think every single person got best times this year. Everyone contributed. I think last year really set up for an amazing current year.”

The Bobcats are looking to take the next step at the NCAA Championships after dipping their toes in it last year. The women finished 17th out of 51 schools, while the men didn’t place.

“We’re hoping to get night swims,” Casares said. “When you get top 16 in the country, you get to swim again at night and when you’re swimming at night you’re scoring points for your college. We’re hoping to get down there and score some points and put ourselves on the scoreboard for both the men and the women.”