Capping off the 2006-2007 season, the men's swimming and diving team took seventh place in the Eastern Interscholastic Swimming League Championships this weekend in Princeton, N.J. The host Tigers captured first place in the meet, followed by Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Cornell and the United States Naval Academy. The University of Pennsylvania and Dartmouth finished in eighth and ninth places, respectively. While the Tigers scored 1,405 points over the three-day event, Bruno accumulated a total of 624 points, led by top performers Brian Kelly '08 and Daniel Ricketts '09.
Despite the seemingly low team placement, captain Peter Volosin '08 was pleased at his team's performance at Easterns. Volosin noted the swimmers' outstanding team effort as the highlight of their final meet, as many swimmers recorded their best times of the season and contributed to the team's point total.
"It was an extremely positive meet for us," he said. "Almost everyone scored for the team."
Volosin got the Bears off to a strong start, securing a spot in the consolation finals of the 1,650-yard freestyle. Velosin finished 12th in the race, clocking in at 15:46.27. Kevin Hug '08 followed up with a 17th-place finish in the 200-yard backstroke, swimming a time of 1:49.71.
The Bears saw the best performance of the meet in the 100-yard freestyle event. Kelly was Brown's highest finisher in the race, nabbing fourth place with a time of 44.81. This year's Easterns meet was a personal victory for Kelly, who overcame injuries and disheartening performances in his first two seasons to emerge as Brown's top competitor in 2007.
"The past two years just weren't my years," Kelly said. "I left Easterns last season feeling really frustrated, which motivated me to train really hard over the summer. This year I finally started off on the right foot."
Michael O'Mara '07 concluded his Brown career with a 20th-place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke, posting a time of 2:07.15. Ricketts recorded the Bears' second best individual performance of the meet in the 200-yard butterfly, taking 10th place and checking in at 1:49.57.
Kai Robinson '09 led Bruno in the diving portion of the meet, finishing 14th in the 3-meter dive with a score of 286.60. C.J. Kambe '10 finished just behind Robinson in 16th place, recording a score of 266.75.
The Bears wrapped up the meet with the 400-yard medley relay. The team of Hug, O'Mara, Ricketts and Kelly earned seventh in the event, posting a time of 3:21.11. The relay team bounced back after a disappointing performance in the preliminary round in the morning and returned to the pool with a vengeance that night to churn out a strong performance in the final race of the season.
"Coach Brown told us, 'You haven't done what you are capable of yet,' " Kelly said. "And then we all just clicked. We got off swimming fast and everyone just started going crazy. It was such a fun relay to swim."
Kelly attributed much of the relay team's success to the support they felt from the deck.
"It was a really fast, close race," he said. "Seeing all of our friends and hearing them cheer gave us the extra drive."
Volosin agreed. "The positivity was flying on the deck."
As the 2007 season comes to a close, the Bears will turn their attention to improving on this years' performance at Easterns. Brown has a promising future - only two team members are graduating, only one of whom competed at Easterns.
The Bears also benefited from outstanding performances from its underclassmen, which bodes well for next year. Combining strong senior leadership with an experienced group of underclassmen and an eager class of talented incoming recruits, 2008 should be a banner year for the men's swimming and diving team.
"We have improved greatly over this season, and we are still a very young team. All the classes will finally be rounded out next year, and I have high hopes for next season," Volosin said.
