New York University's men's swimming & diving team has had its ups and downs over the current season. But, overall its members have shown promise. This weekend, they will be forced to show their strengths as they go up against seven other teams at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Invitational, which is set to take place Friday and Saturday, December 2-3, at the Zesiger Center Pool in Cambridge, MA.

The Violets will be facing the largest number of opponents they have seen at a meet this season. Their competition includes Bowdoin College, Colby College, Keene State University, Harvard University, MIT, Tufts University, and Wheaton College (who the Violets defeated at Wheaton's Invitational). This will be the most challenging field the team has faced, as MIT (#6) and Tufts (#16) are both ranked in the top 20  Division III teams in the country.

NYU proved itself last year at MIT, defeating four out of five other teams (Tufts included). This year, the team will look to many of its members to repeat, or even exceed last year's successes.

Already this season, the Violets have been shown an example by their leaders, as  senior captains James Bedell and Bryson Naylor have both had admirable starts to the year. Last week, at NYU's meet against The College of New Jersey (currently ranked #11 in the nation), Bedell won the 100-yard butterfly with a season personal-best of 53.27. Naylor also had a season personal-best, winning the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:14.37.

The Violets have also seen strong performances from its younger members. As a freshman, Jerry Crowley has already produced four victories, and two second-place finishes over the season. Sophomore Cole Talbott has also had an impressive season, winning the 200-yard freestyle (1:45.56) at Wheaton and the 500-yard freestyle (4:49.65) against TCNJ.

"This is will be our final meet of the fall," said head coach Bob Sorensen. "Our swimmers have shown very good progress over the last few weeks and I expect them to swim even faster this weekend at MIT!"

Perhaps NYU's top performer this season is freshman diver Austen Blease. In just four weeks of meets, he has been honored as University Athletic Association Athlete of the Week four times, has set and reset two pool records, and has won five out of seven events.

"This meet will feature good competition for all of our divers," said diving coach Scott Donie. "I expect that we will be very well represented."

After a weekend without a meet, will the Violets be able to repeat the types of performances that they need to win? We'll find out this weekend at MIT. The sessions are scheduled to begin at 6:30pm on Friday and 10:00am on Saturday.