Bates swim teams sweep Maine State Meet for fourth time in as many years

Riley Ewing was a winner in five individual races and two relays as both the Bates men's and women's swim teams won the Maine State Meet over Bowdoin, Colby and the University of Maine for the fourth straight year on Dec. 2, 2017. (File photo: d3photography.com)

BRUNSWICK, Maine -- The Bates men's and women's teams both won the Maine State Collegiate Swimming & Diving Meet for the fourth time in as many years, grinding out an extensive schedule of races over the course of three sessions in a span of 24 hours.

"Both teams swam more events than I've ever seen before in three sessions," said head coach Peter Casares. "They never gave up and they showed everybody how tough they were. It was awesome to watch!"

Senior captain Riley Ewing (Bedford, N.H.) led the men's team with five individual event victories and sophomore Janika Ho (Los Angeles, Calif.) won three races and was the runner-up in three others to lead the women's team. Ho set Bates' team record in the 100-yard individual medley in her final event.

The Bates men outscored runner-up Bowdoin 1,096 points to 869. Colby took third place with 648, followed by the University of Maine with 521.

Bates also led the women's team scoring with 1,039.5 points, followed by Bowdoin (938), Maine (795) and Colby (388.5).

Women's Highlights:

• Ho, sophomore Monica Sears (San Anselmo, Calif.), senior captain Hope Logan (Boothbay Harbor, Maine) and senior captain Logan McGill (Dallas, Texas) opened the meet with a narrow victory in the 200-yard freestyle relay, finishing in 1:37.54 to 1:38.47 for Maine and 1:38.51 for Bowdoin.
• Bates also won the 200-yard medley relay in 1:47.02, 2.6 seconds ahead of Maine, on legs swum by Ho, McGill, first-year Caroline Apathy (Devon, Pa.) and Sears.
• Ho set the meet record in the 100 IM with her time of 1:00.18. She also won the 100 free in 53.15 seconds, as well as the 100-yard butterfly in 57.43 ahead of second-place Apathy (58.20). Ho was also the runner-up in the 100 back (58.52), the 50 free (24.48) and the 50 fly (25.99), tying with Apathy in the latter race.
• McGill set a meet record in the 50 fly, leading a 1-2-3 Bates sweep in 25.69 seconds ahead of teammates Apathy and Ho. McGill also took first in the 50 free in 24.18, 0.30 ahead of runner-up Ho.
• Sears was dominant in the 500 free, winning by a margin of more than four seconds with a time of 5:08.96. She also won the 200 free (1:56.78) and the 1,000 free (17:59.30) on Saturday.
• Sophomore Emmy Daigle (Portland, Ore.) won the 50 breast (31.45).
• Logan won the 200 IM in 2:11.35, with outstanding second-half splits of 37.89 seconds in the breaststroke and 29.89 in the freestyle.
• Sophomore Hannah Johnson (Brewster, Mass.) won the 50-yard backstroke in 27.90 and led a 1-2-3-4 Bates sweep in the 100 back in 58.33. Johnson also won the 200 back (2:05.86).
• Junior Emma Lammers (Upper Arlington, Ohio) led a 1-2-3 Bates sweep in the 200 fly (2:11.12), with sophomore Amy Duren (Chatham, N.J.) second in 2:12.12.

Men's Highlights:

• The Bates men opened the meet Friday night with a convincing victory and a 1:26.32 in the 200-yard freestyle relay, anchored by senior Teddy Pender (Muscat, Oman) after legs by senior Jonathan Depew (Hudson, Ohio), junior Alex Bedard (Amherst, N.H.) and Ewing.
• The Bates men opened Saturday morning's session with a dominating win in the 200 medley relay, as Ewing, Bedard, Pender and Depew finished in 1:34.40, well ahead of runner-up Bowdoin (1:38.23).
• Bedard set the meet record in the 50 breast at 26.47 seconds, with Pender second (26.62). He also touched the wall first in the 100 breast (58.15) and placed second in the 200 breast (2:12.25).
• Ewing won the 50 fly (23.47), the 50 backstroke by a 1.48-second margin (23.83), the 400-yard individual medley (4:14.04), the 100 back by a 2.38-second margin (51.87), and the 200 back by a 4.65-second margin. Ewing also was the runner-up to Bowdoin's Drew Macdonald in the fly by 0.12 seconds in a time of 2:00.17.
• Junior Rory Collins (Brookfield, Conn.) led a 1-2-3-4-5 Bates sweep in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:45.96. Depew was second in 1:46.07.
• Sophomore Alexander Ignatov (Trumbull, Conn.) was the runner-up in the 400 IM (4:14.55), the 1,000 free (16:56.03) and the 500 free (4:47.46).
• Pender won the 50 free (21.33), the 100 free (46.77), the 100 fly (52.66) and the 100 IM (53.27).

"The most impressive part was watching the team take out races aggressively and finish with speed - showing off their confidence and endurance," Casares said after Friday's session.
The Maine State Meet was Bates' last one before its annual training trip to Deerfield Beach, Florida. There they will race against NESCAC rival Williams College in a dual meet on Dec. 20.