THE BASICS:

- Location: Cambridge, Mass. (Zesiger Center Pool)
 
- The Lead: The MIT men's swimming and diving team posted multiple NCAA B Cut marks over the weekend as the Engineers finished second with 1,567.50 points at the MIT Winter Invite. Tufts won the event with 1,875 points.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:

- The Engineers kicked off the event on Friday with a win in the 800-free. Senior Tobe Obochi (Highland Park, Ill.) set the pace for MIT and was followed by senior Jaden Luo (Austin, Texas) and sophomore Cole Firlie (Sarasota, Fla.). Senior Brian Li (Austin, Texas) brought the win home as MIT finished with an NCAA B Cut time of 6:37.26. The time is also faster than the 2023 invited time.
 
- Roderick Huang posted an NCAA B Cut and a season-best time with his second-place finish in the 200-yard butterfly as he clocked in with a time of 1:49.36. First-year Nathan Zhu (Lexington, Ky.) finished in fifth (1:54.11), and junior Jalen Evans (Danville, Calif.) finished in sixth (1:55.24).
 
- Senior Jaden Luo (Austin, Texas) won the A Final of the 200-yard free by almost three seconds as he finished with a time of 1:37.24, which is faster than last season's Invited Time. Li posted a season-best time of 1:40.54 to finish second, and sophomore Eugene Jiang (Baton Rouge, La.) clocked in with a season-best time of 1:40.87 to take fourth.
 
- The 200-free relay team of Obochi, senior Arnold Su (Irvine, Calif.), sophomore Evan Liu (Woodbury, N.Y.), and Luo won the event with an NCAA B Cut time of 1:20.66. The time is also faster than the 2023 Invited time of 1:21.30.
 
- Junior Roderick Huang (Cupertino, Calif.) finished with an NCAA B cut and season-best 1:49.36 to finish second in the 200-fly. First-year Nathan Zhu (Lexington, Ky.) finished fifth with a time of 1:54.11 followed by junior Jalen Evans (Danville, Calif.)  with a time of 1:55.24. Firlie (1:42.05) and first-year John Tietjen (Leawood, Kan.) (1:42.49) took the top two spots in the B Final.
 
- Su won the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 55.13. Junior Jacob McCarran (Pittsburgh, Pa.) finished in fourth with a time of 55.65 followed by sophomore Thomas Wu (Cedar Park, Texas) with a time of 55.78.
 
- Sophomore Theo Chen (Plano, Texas) finished second in the 100-back with an NCAA B cut time of 49.27. Sophomore Zack West (Kailua, Hawaii) also achieved an NCAA B cut with a third-place time of 49.41. First-year Aitor Arrese-Igor (Delray Beach, Fla.) posted a personal best time of 49.98 to finish sixth. First-year Jake Geoghegan (Great Falls, Va.) won the B Final with a time of 51.89.
 
- The Engineers took the first three spots in the 400IM led by first-year Jason Wang (Brentwood, Tenn.) with an NCAA B Cut time of 3:57.75. Huang also notched a B Cut time with his second-place finish time of 3:58.31. Senior Aaron Zhu (Chelmsford, Mass.) took third with a time of 3:59.69.
 
- Obochi won the 50-free with the fastest time in DIII so far (19.90). That is an NCAA B Cut mark and is faster than the 2023 Invited time. Liu finished third with a time of 20.71.
 
- The 400-yard medley relay team of West, Su, Chen, and Obochi took second with an NCAA B Cut time of 3:15.97.
 
- Obochi, Su, Liu, and Luo led the 200-free relay to a win with an NCAA B Cut time of 1:20.66.
 
- MIT took the top three spots in the 500-free led by Li who finished in 4:33.94 followed by first-year Taylor Wagner (Colorado Springs, Colo.) (4:35.27) and Tietjen (4:35.84). Sophomore Alvin Tsai (Mineola, N.Y.) won the B Final with a time of 4:46.79.
 
- Obochi won the 100-free with an NCAA B Cut mark of 44.15, which is also faster than the 2023 Invited time.
 
- The Engineers swept the 200IM led by Luo who completed the event in 1:47.88 which is faster than the 2023 Invited time. Wang and Arrese-Igor also posted B Cut times with their second and third place finishes. Wang finished in 1:50.37 and Arrese-Igor finished in 1:50.61.
 
- In the first 11 dive meet of the season, junior David Benko (Budapest, Hungary) finished second on the 3-meter board with an NCAA Qualifying mark of 488.05. He went on to win the 1-meter board with the fifth-highest score in program history of 490.05.
 
UP NEXT:

- The Engineers are off for the remainder of the 2023 year and will return to the pool in 2024 with a meet at Coast Guard on Saturday, January 6 at 11 am.    
 
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