Swimmers drop second meet of the season

According to senior tri-captain Mika Sumiyoshi, the women's swimming and diving team did not fully expect to leave Williamstown, MA last weekend with a victory.

The Williams Ephs have won the NESCAC championship for the past three seasons, and are undefeated so far this year.

And as expected, the Ephs triumphed over the Jumbos, 177.5-102.5, but Tufts gained some valuable experience against the NESCAC's top swimmers in preparation for the conference tournament at Wesleyan in two weeks.

"It was the last meet for a lot of our swimmers, so we wanted the focus of the meet to be on them," Sumiyoshi said. "We figured that we wouldn't be competitive with Williams points wise, but we had some amazing swims which was a great way to end the season for some of the girls. Many people finished with best times, and were pleased with the season in general."

For the Jumbos who will make the trip to Wesleyan, the meet gave them a glimpse of the highest echelon of competition in Division III. The Jumbos competed against a program that consistently finishes in the top five in the nation, which should help Tufts achieve its own goal of breaking into the top five at NESCAC's.

"Williams prepared us for racing tough, fast teams; the types of girls we will encounter at NESCAC's," junior distance swimmer Kate Sweeney said. "We don't swim against a lot of teams like that during the season."

However, for the women not going to NESCAC's, the meet marked the end of the 2003-2004 campaign. The team wanted to make sure the season ended with a bang.

"We had a lot of girls shave and taper for the meet who are not going to NESCAC's, so our main focus was to cheer for them and make sure they felt supported," Sweeney said.

Sumiyoshi and freshman Alaina Thiel led the squad and were the only two Jumbos to capture individual victories. Sumiyoshi took first place in the 200 yard individual medley with a time of 2:12.96. She also took first in the 200 backstroke, dominating her competitors and winning by over four seconds. Sumiyoshi was not as successful in the 100 breaststroke, where she finished second by .09 seconds to Eph sophomore Tricia Chambers. It was the only time all season that Tufts' tri-captain did not place first in a dual meet event.

Thiel continued her first-year excellence, winning the 50 yard freestyle by almost half a second over Williams senior Meredith Olsen with a time of 25.04. She also took first in the 100 free, touching home in 53.49 seconds -- over a second and a half faster than her closest competitor, fellow Jumbo freshman Dierdre Cannell.

"Alaina wasn't shaved or tapered for this meet, and she still pulled out a best time out of nowhere," Sumiyoshi said. "I'm pretty sure she even surprised herself."

Sumiyoshi and Thiel also were successful in the relay events, teaming up with Cannell and sophomore speedster Katie Mims to capture the 400 free by thirteen seconds.

Cannell and Mims contributed handily to the Jumbos' effort. In addition to placing second in the 100 free, Cannell took third behind Sumiyoshi in the 100 breaststroke and teamed up with Thiel, sophomore Meghan Wallach and senior tri-captain Kierstyn Thayer to place third in the 200 IM.

"It was a good opportunity to go up against some of the best swimmers in the league and see what I could do," Cannell said. "However, I didn't really put a lot of emphasis on competing against them; instead I concentrated more on perfecting my stroke and swimming a personal best time for the season."

Mims also placed fifth in the 100 free and butterfly and fourth in the 50 free, while Wallach took fifth in the 200 fly and third in the 100 fly.

"I think that overall as a team, it was good that we didn't let ourselves get overly intimidated by a team who's in the top three or four at nationals every year," Sumiyoshi said.

The Jumbo divers also continued their solid performances, with senior Beth Wecksell and sophomore Jess Schwartz giving Eph divers a run for their money. The duo placed third and fourth in both the one meter and three meter diving events, in both cases finishing behind Eph seniors Rachel Gealy and Sara Gilliam.

The Jumbos will now spend the next ten days preparing for the NESCAC championship meet, an event that they have been swimming towards all season.

"I think that we've trained really hard and that we deserve to do well," Cannell said. "We're definitely prepared to do really well, it's just a matter of our attitudes at the meet and how hard we fight for every place."