For swimming, Jake Deguire and Nick Rogers punched their tickets to nationals this weekend after battling at the NCAA Division III Regional Championships.
Deguire competed at 165, where after an early pin in his first match, he persevered through a triple overtime bout to finally defeat Williams’ Fisher Stites.
After falling to the top seed in his bracket, Jack Richardson of Johnson & Wales, Deguire wrestled his way back into to nationals contention, pinning Coast Guard’s Landon Kearns. He then had a third-place match against Chase Anestis of Plymouth State, where Deguire took victory and claimed the final ticket.
“The tournament went well,” Deguire said. “I had a setback in the semifinals, but wrestling back for third is probably the toughest thing to do in this sport, and I’ve done it before, so I was pretty confident.”
After making Nationals in 2023, Deguire suffered a season-ending injury a year ago. He was quite satisfied with how he bounced back with a berth to the National Championships.
“It’s awesome,” Deguire said. “Having to wrestle back for third gave me a lot more pressure, but the difference between that and last time was I went to the finals last time, so that semifinal match is not much pressure because if you lose you can wrestle back. Just to qualify was very rewarding for myself, so it was really nice to be able to do that, and hopefully I can get two spots higher on the podium this year.”
Rogers’ road to the final was a lot smoother.
He won each of his first two matches, cruising to a decision and a major decision to set up a match against Castleton’s Connor Gregory, the 13th ranked wrestler in the country at 174 pounds. He held the second spot in the bracket, while Rogers was sixth, but Rogers upset Gregory after a 5-4 decision, meaning he had clinched a spot not only in the championship but also to Nationals.
He eventually fell to Western New England’s Cam Hines in the finals via major decision, but it was enough to lock in his first Nationals qualification.
Both Deguire and Rogers will compete at the NCAA Division III Championships at the Amica Mutual Pavillion in Providence, R.I. on March 14 and 15.
The diving championships also took place over the weekend, and the Pride were competing at their home pool, with the Art Linkletter Natatorium being selected as the home site for the meet.
The women’s team sent four divers in action, with Elizabeth Santos as the top finisher on both the 1- and 3-meter boards. She finished 20th on both boards, while first-year Annabel Culbreth-Loomis finished second best for the Pride in both. Other competitors included Bridgette Hogan and McKenzie Aparo.
For the men’s team, it was only sophomore standout Christian Butler who competed. Butler finished fourth on the 3-meter board in Friday’s action. He competed in the 1-meter board Saturday, where he showcased his skills to the tune of a runner-up finish, only trailing Calder Biondi of Williams in that well.
For their collaborative effort, Butler won NEWMAC Men’s Diver of the Year, while Pete Avdoulos won NEWMAC Men’s Diving Coach of the Year. It is Avdoulos’s 19th time in his career he has won the award, and the fifth time in a row. Butler is now the back-to-back NEWMAC Men’s Diver of the Year winner.
Butler will also join Nina Lamb as the only two Springfield athletes to compete at the NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving National Championships, with Lamb qualifying in the 100-yard breaststroke, the 200-yard breaststroke and the 200-yard IM. Butler is set to make his debut on the national stage after narrowly missing qualification last season.
On Friday and Saturday, men’s and women’s track and field competed at the New England Division III Championship at the Track at New Balance in Boston. While the men’s meet on Friday was a non-scoring meet, the Pride placed 15 out of 31 teams on Saturday. Both of the women’s meet’s were scored, placing 11 out of 21 teams on Friday and 11 out of 28 teams on Saturday.
Mike Anderson qualified for Saturday with a time of 8.27 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles, while Michael Scott and Giovanni Henrickson had times of 7.03 and 7.14, respectively, in the 60-meter dash. Jamil Manu also placed ninth in the long jump with a leap of 6.68 meters, and Patrick Dahm placed 27in the event jumping 6.01. In other field events on Friday, Martin Nyagilo finished 14 in shot put at 14.40 meters, while Peyton Blanchard and Connor Daley finished 30 and 34, at 12.98 and 12.69 meters.
Saturday saw the men’s track team break numerous school records in multiple events. Anderson re-broke his own school record for 60-meter hurdles, shaving down his time to 8.16 seconds Scott also broke the school’s 200-meter dash, with a time of 21.58 seconds.
On top of this, Joe Wong placed ninth in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:53.23, while Colin Hansen took ninth in the 400-meter with a time of 48.63. In field events, Alex McKenney cleared 4.29 meters to get 14 in the pole vault, while Daniel McGlashan had a leap of 13.06 meters for the triple jump. Max Torres also had a high jump of 1.85 meters.
Friday featured more records being broken on the women’s side, with Katherine DeFosse breaking her own campus record with a time of 8.79 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles. Shot put also saw two members of the Pride place fourth and fifth, with Hannah Debian and Katelynn Taylor placing tosses of 12.76 and 12.46, respectively.
While she wasn’t able to break her own record again, DeFosse notched another very respectable time of 8.87 seconds on Saturday. Elina Olmedo took 11th in the 800-meter run as well with a time of 2:21.19 as Kristina Kyle and finished 16 in the one-mile run. Maddie Shea placed 22nd in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 10:34.70. In the 4×400, Springfield saw themselves take 13th with 4:10.77, which saw Olmedo, Julia Brillo, Madison Mulas and Natalie Marchand.
A handful of student-athletes who have qualified will travel to Ithaca College next weekend for the AARTFC Indoor Championships.