Men's Swimming Team Primed for Championships

Saturday's Middlebury Invitational provided the Tufts men's swimmers an opportunity to showcase their skills on a grander stage than usual _ and in this instance the Jumbos rose to the challenge.

The meet brought together some of New England's strongest Div. III swimming programs, including Williams, MIT, Norwich, and Middlebury. None of the teams, however, displayed all of their fastest swimmers _ using the meet instead as a late season tune-up to concentrate on making adjustments in specific areas to the final Championship roster.

"There wasn't the level of competition that there will be at NESCACs," sophomore Seth Baron said.

However, the format of the Invitational served as a good experience, preparing the Jumbos, whose season so far has been a fairly ho-hum affair, for the tough competition they are likely to face in the NESCAC Championships.

"The dual-meets don't really give you a clear measure of how you'll do in the NESCACs," Baron said.

Baron, who has yet to improve on his times from last season, easily won the 200-yard butterfly (2:00.96) on Saturday, but is still disappointed.

Conspicuously absent from the meet were the Lord Jeffs from Amherst _ the team most feared in the NESCAC this season. Tufts will compete against the undefeated Amherst swimmers for the first time at the NESCAC Championships at the end of the month.

Nevertheless, the Jumbos (8-1 overall, 4-0 NESCAC) did what they have always been known for _ swimming hard and proficiently. In the afternoon's first men's event, the Tufts 'A' team won the 200-yard medley relay (1:39.49). Winning the top spot in the 18-team field could be attributed, in large part, to junior Nick Ghoussaini, whose blisteringly fast final leg (22.11) clinched the event.

The two backstroke events were Tufts' strongest showings of the afternoon. In the 100, freshman Jonathon Godsey hit the wall first at 55.60 seconds, with junior Kaili Mauricio grabbing second-place (57.40) in the 14-swimmer field. Godsey took home first-place honors in the 200-yard backstroke as well (2:01.91), with fellow freshman Jason Kapit close behind in second (2:02.13).

"I was happy to see a lot of the swimmers that shaved and tapered last week swim well on Saturday," Kapit said. "I'm looking forward to the Championships in three weeks and to scoring points for the team to help us place as high as possible."

Taking advantage of the more intimidating setting to test their poise, the Jumbo divers passed with flying colors. Seniors Connell Cloyd and David Liebenstein came in one-two in the three-meter event. The experience gained on Saturday should prove invaluable come Championships.

Tufts chances in the upcoming NESCAC Championships, to be held at Williams College from Feb. 28 to March 2, are now a bit clearer. Amherst and Williams, historically strong teams, will probably be fighting for the top spot. Though anything is possible, the Jumbos seem to be eyeing a third-place finish in the final standings. Standing in their way are the Middlebury Panthers (4-4 overall, 2-3 NESCAC), last year's first-time champions. After losing eight valuable seniors to graduation over the summer though, Middlebury seems to be in a weakened position, susceptible to being overrun by the Jumbos.

"We'll give them a run for their money this year," Baron stated confidently.