HOBOKEN, N.J. (March 28, 2011) – The Stevens Institute of Technology men’s swimming team finished 14th in the nation at the 2011 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Swimming and Diving Championships last week in Knoxville, Tenn. The finish was the best in program history as the Ducks combined for 86 team points. Denison University won the title with 500.5 points, ending Kenyon College’s 31-year reign as the champs. Kenyon finished with 499.5 points.
Rounding out the top five was Emory University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Williams College.
Stevens sent a program-best eight student-athletes to the NCAA’s this year – seniors Dan Pecoraro, Matthew Preedy, and Evan Wilson, sophomores Alex Benham and John Hu, and freshmen Tyler Hessler, Joe Huyett, and Nick Noga.
Day 1 – Benham set a new school-record in the 500-yard freestyle prelims with a time of 4:32.28 before taking 13th in the final to earn honorable mention All-America honors. He turned in a time of 4:35.06. Hu finished fourth in the 200-yard individual medley prelims, turning in a 1:50.72 and breaking the previous school-record by almost two full seconds. The sophomore took sixth place in the final (1:50.93) to earn All-America distinction.
Day 2 – Huyett, Pecoraro, Hessler, and Preedy combined to break the school-record in the 200-yard freestyle relay prelims, notching a 1:23.54 and finishing 13th. In the final, that group took 12th place as all members were honorable mention All-American. Hu and Wilson went one-two in the 400-yard individual medley prelims, and Hu’s time of 3:55.21 was a new program-best. In the final, Hu placed fifth and Wilson was eighth.
Pecoraro was 11th in the 200-yard freestyle prelims (1:39.42) and crushed his own previous school-record. He went on to take 16th in the final and earn an honorable mention All-America nod.
Day 3 – Hu recorded a sixth-place finish and took home All-America honors in the 200-yard butterfly prelims and final with his best time of 1:49.65 coming in the prelims, while the 800-yard freestyle relay team of Hu, Wilson, Noga, and Benham were honorable mention All-American thanks to a 14th place finish. Their time of 6:47.37 beat the previous program-record by more than 2.5 seconds.
Day 4 – Benham and Wilson started the final day of competition with an 11th and 15th in the 1,650-yard freestyle, while Huyett, Pecoraro, Hessler, and Preedy were 15th in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:04.96. The quartet earned honorable mention All-America honors.
The Ducks earned All-America honors six times, honorable mention All-America honors 16 times, and broke six school-records at the four-day event.