Swimmers focused on top five finish

For the women's swimming team, an entire season of work has come down to one weekend.

The team headed to Connecticut yesterday to participate in the three-day NESCAC championship meet hosted by Wesleyan College. The Jumbos, who finished sixth at NESCAC's last season, look to uphold the goal they set for themselves in November of breaking into the top five.

While the first three positions will most likely be taken up by Williams, Middlebury, and Amherst, Tufts is capable of eclipsing last year's fourth and fifth place squads, Hamilton and Bates, to break into the top four.

"There's a lot of competition, so we're hoping to do well and finish within the top five," freshman sprinter Dierdre Cannell said. "We also want to do well individually and swim the fastest we've swam this season."

The Jumbos have been preparing exclusively for NESCAC's for the past two weeks with a completely different practice format than earlier in the season when the team prepared for dual meets.

"We've been tapering since last Monday, which means we have backed up off training and rested more both in and out of the water," senior tri-captain Amanda Bloom said. "Our main goal these two weeks was to keep relaxed, but motivated."

The team veered away from the traditional practice style of working on fitness and stamina by swimming hundreds of laps. During this two week stretch, the Jumbos instead worked on precise fundamentals with the intention of shaving crucial seconds off their times.

"Our practices were really short and focused," Bloom added. "We worked mainly on timing and specific techniques to get us really focused and thinking about races."

Swimming aside, one of the Jumbos' major goals is to be the most spirited team on the deck.

"We had a team meeting about our goals for the meet, and regardless of times or finishes, we want to go into the meet together as a really supportive team," Bloom said. "We want to be the loudest, most supportive team, and always have girls behind everyone swimming."

Adding to the excitement will be the fact that the Jumbos have an excellent shot of sending multiple women to nationals for the first time since 2001. Senior tri-captain Mika Sumiyoshi will likely qualify for nationals in a myriad of events, including the 200 yard individual medley (IM), the 400IM, and the 200 yard backstroke. This would be Sumiyoshi's fourth consecutive season qualifying.

Freshman Alaina Thiel has already made the national B cut and looks to shore up her place along with Sumiyoshi in both the 50 and 100 freestyle events.

"Alaina has blown away all her own records this week," Bloom said. "She's already made national B cut, and has a good chance of going to nationals. We just don't want to say that because we don't want to put individual pressure on her."

In addition, the 400 freestyle relay team of Sumiyoshi, Thiel, Cannell and sophomore Katie Mims has a good shot of advancing.

For senior tri-captains Bloom, Sumiyoshi, and Kierstyn Thayer, along with classmates Bridie McElroy and Beth Wecksell, this weekend marks the final NESCAC meet of their four year careers as Tufts swimmers and divers.

"NESCAC's is a huge buildup every year regardless of age," Bloom said. "Just the fact that it's [our] last one it puts a lot more into it. There is a lot of emotion but [we] really have to put that in the back of [our] heads and swim for [ourselves] and the team and try not to focus on the big picture."