Jumbos edge out non-conference rival Wellesley

The women's swimming and diving team took to the pool last Wednesday to face off against the Wellesley Blue, one of Tufts' biggest non-conference rivals. The Jumbos took their third straight victory over the Blue, traveling to Wellesley and leaving with a narrow 165-135 victory.

Senior tri-captain Mika Sumiyoshi credits the win to a good performance by the entire team. "Overall, I think that everyone swam really well," she said. "Almost all of the races were incredibly close, and for the most part, we were the ones who ended up beating the other team by a few tenths and even hundredths, which propelled us to the win."

The Jumbos were led, as always, by Sumiyoshi, who won all three of her events, the 200 meter freestyle, the 200m backstroke, and the 200m Individual Medley (IM), all by margins of over three seconds. She also teamed up with freshman Dierdre Cannell, sophomore Meghan Wallach, and freshman Alaina Thiel to take first place in the 200m IM relay.

Right behind Sumiyoshi were outstanding freshmen Thiel, Cannell, and Jessica Bollinger. Thiel took first place in both the 50m and 100m freestyle sprints, swam the anchor leg for the winning 200m IM relay squad, and took second place to Sumiyoshi in the 200m IM.

Cannell chipped in with two second place finishes in the 100m and 200m breaststroke, while swimming the second leg of the 200m IM and 400m freestyle relay, both of which took first place.

Bollinger raced to first place in the 1000m freestyle and swam the third leg of the victorious 400m freestyle relay team, while scoring valuable points for the Jumbos with a third place finish in the 200m breaststroke and a second place finish in the 500m freestyle.

"It's great to have girls who are versatile and can swim and are willing to swim whatever coach puts them in without any complaint," Sumiyoshi said. "We're missing a lot of key swimmers, and when the girls come back from abroad, I think our team, especially our relays, will be stronger than ever."

Tufts also got strong performances from its sophomore class, namely standouts Katie Mims, Meghan Wallach, and Kristen Hyland. Mims finished second behind Thiel in both the 50m and 100m freestyle events, by .05 and .78 seconds, respectively. She also earned points for the Jumbos with a fourth place finish in the 100m butterfly, and a first place finish in the 400m freestyle relay.

Wallach swam a key leg of the first place finishing 200m IM relay squad, in addition to finishing third in the 100m butterfly and fourth in the 100m breaststroke. Hyland scored points for Tufts with two third place finishes in the 1000m and 500m distance freestyle events.

Freshman diver Millicent Yee also scored well for Tufts, taking first place for the Jumbos in the lone diving event. Yee and sophomore Jess Schwartz blew away the competition, finishing one-two with scores of 206.90 and 206.15, respectively. Freshman Rachel Rubin contributed with a fourth place finish, ending up with a score of 148.55.

Overall, the Jumbos we're thrilled with their performance, especially coming against such a huge rival as Wellesley.

"It's always an exciting meet with Wellesley, and because they are a good team, we know going in that it's going to be really close and the fourth and fifth place finishes would decide it," Sumiyoshi said. "It was really great for us to win because we had lost against Conn College, so it was a good confidence booster."

The Jumbos will break until the start of next semester when they will be fully armed, and will begin NESCAC competition at home on Jan. 17 against the Wesleyan Cardinals, with hopes of continuing their winning streak.

"We have some tough meets coming up," Sumiyoshi said. "Last year, we beat Bates by only a few points, and lost to MIT by one. With close meets like that, I think it just depends on how much the team wants to win. Of course, we'll be a stronger team with the junior girls back, so it'll be something to look forward to."