By Tiffany Williams –
WORCESTER, Mass. — It wasn’t the home debut the WPI men’s swimming and diving team wanted. After rolling to two road wins last weekend, the Engineers hit the pool on Halloween and got a mixed bag: crushing Brandeis 204-82, but getting dunked by NEWMAC rivals Babson (162-131) and Coast Guard (178-117).
Still, there was one name echoing off the walls of the Sports & Recreation Center — first-year phenom Lucas Brown of Viera, Florida. The rookie didn’t just show up, he dominated, sweeping all three of his individual events and single-handedly keeping WPI in the fight.
Brown opened the night with a statement win in the 1000 freestyle. Locked in a tight duel through the halfway mark, the freshman hit another gear in the back half, torching the field by more than ten seconds at 10:04.30. He wasn’t done. In the 500 free, Brown smoked the competition again, posting 4:52.84 — six seconds clear of the next-best swimmer. First-years Michael Webb of Medway and Deion Chung of Honolulu followed with solid sixth-place finishes, adding valuable points with times of 10:55.48 and 5:03.23.
Brown capped his three-win night in the 200 IM, out-touching the field by just over half a second. His 1:58.38 sealed it — a gritty win powered by his freestyle leg. Senior Christopher Smith of Northbridge came in sixth in 2:00.45, closing his home opener strong.
Smith had already helped WPI’s A-medley relay to a third-place finish, teaming up with Luke Vipond, Lucas Pralle, and Keegan Rowe to go 1:38.41 — just a hair ahead of WPI’s B squad, which touched in 1:38.95. Smith stayed busy, taking third in the 200 back (1:58.96) and fifth in the 100 back (54.99). Sophomore Angad Ahluwalia of Attleboro slid into third in that same race at 54.67, then lit up the pool with a 47.91 in the 100 free — the only sub-48 swim of the night. He closed his evening leading off the third-place 200 free relay alongside first-year Kuba Latawiec, sophomore Angelo Reade, and junior Nolan Schlessman, clocking 1:27.54.
On the boards, sophomore Tom Fitzgerald of East Longmeadow put on a clinic, sweeping the diving events with ease. Fitzgerald cracked 200 points in both — 213.50 on the 1-meter and 217.40 on the 3-meter — the only diver to do it. First-year Aaron Lakin of Hamden quietly impressed too, finishing fourth in both events and upping his scores to 152.40 and 151.40.
The WPI women’s team faced an even tougher lineup — Babson, Coast Guard, Smith, and Brandeis — and walked away with plenty to build on. The Engineers (2-4) took down Brandeis 187.5-75.5 but couldn’t quite hang with the NEWMAC heavies, falling 134-125 to Babson, 203-84 to Coast Guard, and 160.5-132.5 to Smith. The scoreboard didn’t tell the whole story. WPI stacked top-five finishes and proved it’s got the depth and speed to compete.
The women’s 200 medley relay team — Sarah Kang, Milena Whitney, Mallory LaPointe, and Katrina Waite — kicked things off with a third-place finish at 1:54.65. LaPointe, a first-year from Florida, backed it up with a sizzling 1:58.79 to win the 200 free, the only swimmer under two minutes. She added a fourth in the 200 back (2:14.78) and a third in the 200 IM (2:15.92). Kang owned the 200 back, hitting 2:10.84 for the win, and added a third-place 100 back (1:00.82) before anchoring the 200 free relay to fifth in 1:46.23 with Harris, Cook, and Whitney.
First-year Audrey Cook was a workhorse in the breaststroke events, finishing third in the 100 (1:11.28) and second in the 200 (2:35.54), barely missing the win by less than half a second. Whitney tied for fourth in the 100 (1:11.37) and was sixth in the 200 (2:35.92), right behind Jasmine Lam, who was fifth at 2:35.90 — all three separated by the blink of an eye.
The distance events were a slugfest between WPI teammates Amber Jacobs and Allie Marvell. Jacobs edged Marvell for second in the 1000 free (11:18.62 to 11:20.69), but Marvell flipped the script in the 500, taking third at 5:32.19, just ahead of Jacobs’ 5:32.87.
Halloween at WPI was more grind than glamour, but there was no shortage of fight. The Engineers didn’t get the sweep they wanted, but between Brown’s breakout night, Fitzgerald’s diving dominance, and the women’s deep lineup, the home opener showed this team’s got teeth.