INDIANAPOLIS – First-year
Owen Vale and sophomore
Jack Goepfrich each earned First Team All-America honors as the Amherst College men's swimming and diving team competed on the second day of the NCAA Division III Championships on Thursday at Indiana University Indianapolis.
Vale finished fifth in the nation in the 400-yard individual medley with a record-breaking performance. He clocked a time of 3:50.06 in the trials to break his own NESCAC record in the event, set last month when he won the NESCAC Championships. Vale touched in 3:51.86 in the finals to place fifth, the highest finish for a Mammoth in any event since 2019 and highest finish by an Amherst first-year since 2013.
Goepfrich placed seventh in the 200-yard freestyle, his first career First Team All-America finish after placing 16th in this event last year. The sophomore set an Amherst school record in the trials with a time of 1:37.10, breaking his own record of 1:37.26 that he set at the NESCAC Championships last year. Goepfrich followed up in the finals with a time of 1:37.78 to claim seventh place as the top finisher from the NESCAC in the event in which he won the conference title this year. First-year
Benjamin Robins also competed in the event and swam a personal-best 1:42.13 in the trials to place 39th in the nation.
Senior
Fynlan Nadel claimed 18th place in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 48.24 seconds in the trials, a personal-best time by over a second and the top finish from a NESCAC swimmer in the event.
Through 9 of 20 events, the Mammoths have tallied 26 points to sit in a tie for 18th place, already Amherst's highest points tally since 2019 with over half of the program still remaining. Defending champion Denison leads the meet with 226 points.
The national championship meet continues for two more days in Indianapolis with trials beginning at 10 a.m. and finals at 6 p.m. each day. Friday's schedule will feature Goepfrich in the 200-yard butterfly, junior
Eric Albers in the 100-yard breaststroke, and Nadel swimming a double of both events.
