MIT swim team receives awards Team wins in weekend meets
Michael J. Liao ’14 was named the NEWMAC Swimmer of the Week and was part of the 200-yard medley relay, along with Bradley A. Mattix ’16 and Sean R. Corcoran ’16, and Austin D. Fathman ’15, that received Relay of the Week accolades on Monday. This is the fourth time this season, dating back to Nov. 25, that the Engineers have earned both Swimmer and Relay of the Week during the same week.
MIT had a busy week of competition; on Friday evening, the Cardinal and Gray traveled to Williamstown, Mass. to face Williams College, falling to the Ephs in a close, aggressive meet by a score of 159-137. On Saturday, MIT hosted Amherst College, ending the day with a 185-115 victory. Against Amherst, the Engineers started the day off right by winning the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:32.73, touching almost three seconds ahead of the Lord Jeffs’ A relay.
Over the weekend, Liao racked up five victories in all. Against Williams, he won both the 100-yard breaststroke and the 200-yard breaststroke with times of 57.39 and 2:05.53 respectively. At home on Saturday, he added three more wins to that list. He was part of the 200 medley relay, and easily won the 100 breast with a 55.31 and the 200 breast in 2:00.84, breaking the Zesiger Center pool record by a few tenths of a second in the latter. His 200 breast is currently second in Division III and his 100 breast is the third fastest in the country.
Next up for the Engineers will be the Wheaton Invitational, which will take place from Friday through Saturday, Feb. 7-8. The next time MIT will race after that will be at the NEWMAC Championships, set to take place from Thursday, Feb. 20 through Sunday, Feb. 23 at WPI.