Randy Melanson of Attleboro, Mass., Earns NEWMAC Men's Swimming and Diving Weekly Award

2015 Dec 14

Randy Melanson was one of six members of the WPI men's swimming and diving team to earn a weekly accolade from the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference for their performance Friday night.

Junior Andrew Kelleher was named the NEWMAC Men's Swimmer of the Week while sophomore Randy Melanson was tabbed the NEWMAC Men's Diver of the Week and the 200-yard freestyle quartet of junior Andrew Bauer, freshman Jack Bauer, senior Alex Powers and senior Nathan Hughes earned NEWMAC Men's Relay Team of the Week status.

Kelleher swept the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke with times of 59.13 and 2:09.32 as the Engineers defeated host Wesleyan and dropped a narrow decision to Tufts at the Cardinal Duals on Friday. The junior was also second in the 50-yard breaststroke with a 28.07.

Melanson, who earned his third conference weekly accolade of the season, led the Crimson and Gray divers with a third-place 203.35 on the 3-meter board and a fourth-place 198.15 on the 1-meter board.

The 200 free relay team touched the wall .04 seconds ahead of the Tufts quartet in a time of 1:27.08 to capture the race in a thrilling conclusion to Friday night's event.

WPI treks to California for its annual training trip and will face Pomona-Pitzer on Tuesday, January 5.

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.