Cards Have 5 National "B" Cuts & 3 All-NESCAC Efforts, Dave Wilkinson '09 HM A-A in Diving
Wesleyan posted its second-highest team finish in the nine-year history of the NESCAC meet, placing fifth of 11 squads during the Championships hosted by Wesleyan Fri.-Sun., Feb. 27-March 1. Only the fourth-place showing by the 2006 squad was better.
Individual Cardinals accounted for one Wesleyan record -- Dan Storms '10 (photo insert lower left) in the 200-yard free with a 1:42.27 clocking to finish fourth -- while tying another -- Michael Bailey '11 (photo insert upper left) with his third-place showing in the 200-yard individual medley (1:54.95). That finished earned Bailey all-NESCAC honors. Both these performances were NCAA Division III provisional qualifying times. Also coming up with an NCAA "B" cut was the 800 free relay squad of Jeff Arace '12, Ryan Beck '10, Chris Becker '09 (photo insert upper right) and Storms. Their time was 6:55.90. This same relay group tied the Wesleyan mark in the 400 free relay with its 3:09.00 result. The final two NCAA "B" cuts came from Becker in the 50-yard free as he placed eighth in :21.15 and Beck in the 200 free with a 1:42.63 during preliminaries.
Wesleyan also excelled on the diving board as three Cardinals finished among the top six in both the one-meter and three-meter events. Leading the way for Wesleyan was Gianfranco Galluzzo '12 (main photo), who placed third on both boards, recording a 454.35 score in the one-meter dive and 474.85 in the three-meter dive. He received all-NESCAC accolades for both his finishes. Dave Wilkinson '09 (photo insert lower right), who earned the Senior Diver of the Year award as the senior diver with the most career points in the NESCAC Championships, was fourth on both boards while J.P. Valette '10 placed fifth for three-meter diving and sixth for one-meter diving. Both Galluzzo and Wilkinson were under consideration for NCAA Championships participation as were all the swimmers with "B" cuts, but Wilkinson was the only Cardinal selected to attend the NCAA Championships at the U. of Minnesota Wed.-Sat., March 18-21. He will compete on both the one-meter and three-meter board. He is the second Wesleyan diver in the last seven years to participate at Nationals, joining Abbott Willard '02, who qualified in 2002.
At Nationals, Wilkinson closed out his career with a 392.25 score on the one-meter board and a 417.35 performance on the three-meter board to finish 19th and 13th, respectively, of the 22 divers chosen to compete. His 13th-place effort was good enough for honorable-mention All-America honors and four team points for the Cardinals, placing Wesleyan in a tie for 53rd nationally.
