CMC75 Moments: Williams Wins National Title for 2016 Men's Swim and Dive
As part of the buildup to the 75th Anniversary celebration for Claremont McKenna College (visit CMC's 75th Anniversary Countdown Page to learn more), we are reliving many of the great moments from CMS athletic department history over the 75-day countdown from April 17 to July 1. If you were a part of this great moment and would like to add to the memories, or if you would like to submit your memories of your own favorite CMS Athletics moments, fill out the form on our main 75th Anniversary page.
Great Moments from 75 Years of Athletics
2016 Men's Swimming & Diving: Williams Takes National Title in 100 Back
Matt Williams reached the finals of the 100 back for the third year in a row at the NCAA Championships in 2016, after finishing third and fourth in his previous two trips. During prelims, he qualified easily with a 48.09, the second-best time in the field, but more than a half-second behind defending national champion Benjamin Lin of Williams, just about the same margin that Lin finished ahead of him at the 2015 nationals.
In the finals, though, Williams uncorked the best swim of his career, earning a 47.57 (no CMS backstroker had ever swam faster than 50 seconds prior to Williams) to beat Lin by .32 and earn his first national championship, as well as the program's first since 2005, when Andrew Cox won the 50 free. He was also the first Stag to win a national title in the backstroke since Doug Jones earned one in 1983 to help the Stags finish as the NCAA runner-up that year. Williams nearly made it a double the following day, but settled for a silver in the 200 back, coming in just one one-hundredth of a second out of first, which would have been a heartbreaking result, if he didn't already have a national title to his credit.
As a team, the Stags earned a top-10 finish at the NCAA Championships for the fourth year in a row, as Matthew Valentine also earned All-America honors in the 200 butterfly with a sixth-place finish, while Alex Poltash was an honorable mention All-American in the 50 free.
CMS also had a comeback on the final day of the SCIAC Championships for its ninth straight league title, with individual championships going to Williams (100 back, 200 back, 100 fly), Poltash (50 free), Valentine (200 fly), Noah Deer (100 free), Patrick Quarberg (1 meter, 3 meter dive), and Aaron Lutzker (200 breast), as well as the 200 free relay, the 400 free relay and the 400 medley relay.
Matt Williams:
The seniors that year are definitely what made that season special for me. The year before them was a big class with a big personality who really went out of their way to make sure people had a lot of fun and bonded as a team. That year's (2016) senior Stags were much softer spoken in some sense. Less of a fun, rowdy, rabble rousing kind of presence. They made sure people had fun throughout the season, definitely, but they had a different energy. They ground it out, focused on the training, and had laser vision on SCIACs and nationals. Joey Hinton and Alex Poltash duked it out all year in the 50/100 free, Cory Johnson and Matt Valentine were grinding away in mid-distance for the 200 back and 200 fly respectively. Zach Alleva was determined to put down a best time in the 50 breast on the 200 medley relay.
They didn't have to yell and shout to get people to really buckle down for the hard sets. They just moved to the front of the lane and made sure people had a wake to swim through if they were going too slow. Maybe that last part is a slightly rose-tinted description, but not by much. I don't think I ever felt so out-worked during my four years with CMS.
The seniors were clutch. At SCIACs we trailed PP the whole time. The seniors never lost their cool. They just stayed focused on each race as it came. When people got nervous about the deficit, they just stated the facts: we have to win more races. They weren't cocky or arrogant. They were the ones shrugging off the bad races for others, the ones constantly encouraging and getting people psyched up. They were also the ones winning everything, or at the least throwing down a best time to out touch a PP swimmer. Cory Johnson pulled out a best time in the 200 back, a race he had been focused on all year. He worked with Courtney Eads almost every day on that race, on his technique, on everything, and he killed it at SCIACs and touched PP by a few hundredths.
Matty V did something similar, always beating out everyone during the kick sets throughout the year, only to cap it off by pulling out a best time and a massive win in the 200 fly. For the 400 medley relay, Poltash came up to the blocks and told Matty V, "you gotta go a 48.5 on this 100 fly leg for us to win and take this relay to nationals". Matty V just says, ok, and pulls exactly a 48.5 100 fly split for his first and last performance on the SCIAC 400 medley A relay.
It was that kind of thing that got everyone else fired up. You had no shortage of inspiration and psych and excitement every time you turned around and saw one of those five Stags were doing something crazy to pull out another few points. You saw it in the underclassmen especially. Cory Johnson was there getting Aaron psyched up for that 200 breast, everyone was looking at Joey and Poltash in the freestyle races. Everyone wanted to be Matty V, dropping crazy best times and securing nationals spots. It was one of the best combinations of leading by example and saying just the right thing at the right time, the right speech, the right clap on the back or cheer or hug, always being in the right place at the right time to make sure everyone was having the best meet possible. The sort of thing you only get when you have a group of people who really care about the team, winning, and having fun with it all.
That year has always been a special one for me because of those five guys. Getting to swim with them for their last races at SCIACs and nationals has always been something I've always been grateful for.
Alex Poltash:
The 2016 roster featured promising freshmen talent led by a crew of proven upperclassmen. Coming off of our fifth place finish at NCAAs in 2015, the returners came in with a blueprint for success. The NCAA team came into the championships having seen much of the success of team members in years past. A few of us had podiums in our mind, but we all knew Matt was a top contender in the 100 back. Ever since his breakout year in 2014, he had been chasing that top spot. As someone whose highest finish was third, I know how you can be so close and yet so far. That being said, From my perspective, Matt just had to show up with the right mindset to get the job done.
The Race: I recall standing on the pool deck with Kelly Ngo and Joey Hinton. I recall us jumping up and down in anticipation, and then just like that they were off. Matt had incredible underwaters, perhaps only second to Ben Lin. At least off the start, as I recall, Ben took the lead and was maybe a half a body length ahead at the 50. Matt hung in there though, and then came the 75 wall. What a MONSTER wall that was, a real thing of beauty, as we witnessed Ben flip first then come up first, and then a split second later, Matt popped up ahead! It's one of those moments that perhaps only swimmers can truly appreciate. It was as if Matt knew he was going to catch him on the 75 wall; he had him right in his sights the whole time. And after that, Matt carried his moment into the finish with a 47-mid. A personal best. I think we have a video of the race from the pool deck angle, and when he pops up off the 75 wall, the camera gets shaky from us jumping with excitement.
2015-16 Men's Swimming and Diving Roster
Head Coach: Charles Griffiths
Assistant Coaches: Courtney Eads, David Fahey, LillyBelle Deer
Diving Coach: Fran Jobes
James Adams (So., HMC)
Joseph Alleva (Sr., CMC)
Jonah Breslow (Jr., CMC)
Derrick Chun (Fr., HMC)
Jackson Crewe (Fr., HMC)
Noah Deer (So., CMC)
Jacob Eynon (Fr., CMC)
John Everett (Fr., CMC)
Trevor Fung (Fr., HMC)
Victor Ginelli (So., CMC)
Zachary Goland (Fr., HMC)
Asher Greenberg (So., CMC)
Joey Hinton (Sr., CMC)
John Jeang (Fr., HMC)
Cory Johnson (Sr., HMC)
Alex Li (Fr., CMC)
Aaron Lutzker (Fr., HMC)
Austin Melody (Jr., CMC)
Bryce Murley (So., HMC)
Grant Murray (So., HMC)
Alexander Poltash (Sr., CMC)
Patrick Quarberg (So., CMC)
McClatchy Ruskin (Sr., CMC)
Blake Seidner (Jr., CMC)
Curtis Shinn (Fr., HMC)
Sean Smooke (Fr., CMC)
Matthew Valentine (Sr., HMC)
Charles Van Eijk (So., HMC)
Tyler Welty (Fr., CMC)
Matt Williams (Jr., CMC)
Joshua Yeager (Jr., CMC)