Andrew Bauer of Cumberland, R.I., Competes at NCAA Division III Swimming & Diving Championships

2016 Apr 5

Andrew Bauer represented WPI at the 2016 NCAA Division III Swimming & Diving Championships, March 16-19. in Greensboro, NC.

Wednesday

WPI junior Andrew Bauer (Cumberland, RI) set the school record in the 50-yard freestyle to highlight the first day of action at the 2016 NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships. Bauer's time of 20.59 secured 20th place.

The 200-yard medley relay team of senior Alex Powers, senior Nathan Hughes, sophomore David Smallwood and Bauer raced to a 21st-place time of 1:32.97.

Thursday

Veronica Nikolaki became WPI's first women to earn NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving All-America honors and Bauer picked up honorable mention accolades as the Engineers had a memorable showing on the second day of competition at the 2016 NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships at the Greensboro Aquatic Center.

Nikolaki finished eighth on the one-meter board, amassing 403.15 points during her evening dives. The senior, who is appearing in her third NCAA national championship, had an outstanding preliminary round, totaling 417.00 points and placing fifth through the morning session. Nikolaki will finish her collegiate career Saturday in the three-meter event.

Bauer tied for first in the 200-yard freestyle consolation final Thursday night with Ryan Fleming of Denison. The junior clocked a school record time of 1:38.59, shaving nearly a half a second off of his morning heat of 1:39.18. Bauer's and Fleming's performances would have tied for sixth place in Thursday night's championship final.

Smallwood was also in action on Thursday, finishing in 35th in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 50.00. Unfortunately the men's 200-yard freestyle relay saw its third place heat finish negated by a disqualification.

Through two days of the four-day event, the WPI women are 33rd overall with 11 points and the men are 35th with eight points.

Friday

The WPI 800-yard freestyle set a new school record en route to All-America status on the penultimate night of the 2016 NCAA Division III Swimming and Championships at the Greensboro Aquatic Center Friday night.

Powers, Smallwood, Hughes, and Bauer collaborated to post a 6:41.24 in the final event of the day. The same quartet earned honorable mention All-America status a year ago.

Individually, Powers clocked a 51.27 in the 100-yard backstroke during the prelims.

Saturday

Bauer broke his own school record twice individually and as part of the 400-yard freestyle relay team on the final night of the 2016 NCAA Division III Swimming & Diving Championships at the Greensboro Aquatic Center. Both Bauer and the relay squad garnered honorable mention All-America accolades.

Bauer began the day by turning in a ninth-place 44.87 to earn a spot in the consolation final. He then teamed with Smallwood, Powers, and Hughes to post a 3:02.41 to place 13th in the 400 free relay prelims for a spot in the relay B final.

In his first race of the night, Bauer shaved off .20 seconds en route to touching the wall first in the B final. The foursome went on to finish the night with a 13th-place 3:01.84.

Overall, the men accumulated 49 points which is ranked 21st out of 57 scoring teams

Nikolaki capped an outstanding career Saturday afternoon with a 21st-place 374.95 point total in 3-meter diving. Her 11 points, and All-America eighth place performance, on the 1-meter board on Thursday put the WPI women in a tie for 43rd.

About Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Founded in 1865 in Worcester, Mass., WPI is one of the nation's first engineering and technology universities. Its 14 academic departments offer more than 50 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science, engineering, technology, business, the social sciences, and the humanities and arts, leading to bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees. WPI's talented faculty work with students on interdisciplinary research that seeks solutions to important and socially relevant problems in fields as diverse as the life sciences and bioengineering, energy, information security, materials processing, and robotics. Students also have the opportunity to make a difference to communities and organizations around the world through the university's innovative Global Projects Program. There are more than 45 WPI project centers throughout the Americas, Africa, Asia-Pacific, and Europe.