Jumbos set course for success

The men's swimming and diving team will enter Saturday's opening meet against Connecticut College with confidence -- a sentiment well deserved by this perennial Tufts sports success story.

The Jumbos are coming off a third place NESCAC finish last February, in a season that saw them go 8-1 overall with two third place finishes at both of their invitational meets. Tufts also set four team records in 2002-2003.

The previous season, Tufts posted a 9-1 overall mark and finished the year at the NCAA championships in Ada, Ohio. The Jumbos have suffered only three season losses in the past three years.

Saturday's match, to be held at UMass Dartmouth in a strange three-team meet in which Tufts will only compete with Connecticut College, will hopefully serve as a stepping-stone for the Jumbos. Tufts is looking to post its seventh straight league win. The streak began after the Jumbos' 2001-2002 season loss to Williams.

"It's a good way to start the season," sophomore Steve Ward said of the Connecticut College match-up. "We still have to work hard though, because there are still lots of good teams out there, especially Williams. They're always good."

In recent history Williams has been the Jumbos' thorn, as Tufts has dropped its last three matches to the Ephs. The two swim teams did not face off directly last season.

"Williams along with MIT are definitely going to be our hardest match-ups this year," sophomore swimmer Marc Katz said. "They're always just really good."

Regardless of tough competition to come, the Jumbos certainly pose a formidable threat to whatever teams may come their way this year.

A strong core of senior returning swimmers -- led by senior tri-captains Kaili Mauricio, Jamie Myers, and Greg Schmidt -- is in place to help guide last year's successful freshman and sophomore classes to veteran standing. In addition, this year's particularly tough and competitive freshman class will almost certainly contribute to the season's final result.

"We have a ton of good freshmen," Ward said. "We're going to be a tough team this year, considering how we have a good group of people coming back plus this incoming [freshman] class."

Mike Kinsella, Greg Bettencourt, and Sloan Harris, all members of the class of 2007, should play an important role this year for the Jumbos. Kinsella and Sloan both swim freestyle, with Bettencourt swimming both freestyle and fly.

However, the freshmen are not the only ones with high merits entering the season. Those Jumbos coming back for return stints have set high goals for themselves based on their own past years at Tufts.

Sophomore Brett Baker placed second last year overall in the 100 yard individual medley at the NESCAC's. At the same meet, Jon Godsey broke Tufts' team record in the 50 yard backstroke with a time of 24.16. Also at the NESCAC invitational, three of the Jumbo relay teams set school records; the 400 yard medley relay set the mark with a time of 3:30.00, the 200 yard freestyle relay nailed down a time of 1:25.24, and the 400 yard freestyle relay clocked in with 3:07.62.

Senior Tyler Duckworth, who swam in nationals two years ago, and junior Seth Baron are also swimmers to watch.

The divers decreased this year, due to the departure of two seniors. Junior Jono Perry and sophomore Todd Putnam will be diving for the Jumbos this season, along with graduate student Connell Cloyd. Cloyd, who began diving his junior year for the Jumbos, still has two years of athletic eligibility left.