Swimmers win big and master Bates

At this point in the season, it seems like nothing can stop the men's swimming and diving team.

The Jumbos chalked up their eighth consecutive victory last weekend, pushing their dual-meet record to 8-0 and guaranteeing at least as good a finish as last year's 8-1 dual-meet mark.

The sub .500 Bates Bobcats felt Tufts' success the hard way on Saturday, as the Jumbos dismantled their opposition by the blowout margin of 229-69. Tufts took first in 14 of the 16 events and finished both first and second in 13 of those.

The Bobcats were ill-prepared to face the Jumbos, who are picking up steam in the undefeated campaign as the season runs on. With the loss, Bates dropped to 3-5 on the year.

Senior Tyler Duckworth dominated the meet, placing first in his three individual events. Duckworth won the 200 yard butterfly, the 200 breaststroke, and the 200 individual medley. His butterfly and breaststroke events broke Bates' pool records, with respective times of 2:00.16 and 2:14.32.

Fellow senior Aeric Solow placed first in the 200 backstroke, hitting the wall with the clock at 2:00.32. Sophomores John Godsey and Jason Kapit, along with junior Seth Baron, finished ahead of the Bates competition. Godsey finished the day with two individual victories in the 100 backstroke and the 100 freestyle, as well as with his relay team's victory in the 200 medley.

However, veterans weren't the only ones making waves on Saturday.

Freshman Sloan Harris continued his commanding rookie year, winning both the 50 freestyle and 500 freestyle events and putting an early blow on the Bobcats. Harris also swam as part of the first place 200 freestyle relay team.

Last week against Trinity, Harris won both the 50 and 200 freestyle events at Tufts' Hamilton Pool, and two weeks ago he was victorious in both the 100 and 200 freestyle races against Wesleyan. The freshman from Ardsley, New York has placed first in nine different individual events overall and has been part of numerous top-placing relay teams.

"Our class [of 2007] always says that we want to help the team out as well as we can," Harris said of his freshmen swimming teammates, who are considered one of the strongest classes to come through the Jumbo swimming program. "I'm happy that we've been able to help the way we have."

Against Bates, classmates Greg Bettencourt and Mike Kinsella took first and second, respectively, in the 100 butterfly and 100 breaststroke.

"We all feel a special connection to each other, the class of 2007," Harris continued. "We're there for each other as a team, and we're also there for each other as a class."

Up next for the Jumbos is Williams who, like Tufts, carries a perfect record into the dual-meet. However, because of space constraints at the upcoming New England invitational in three weeks, some swimmers will be preparing for what could be the final meet of some of the seniors' Jumbo careers.

"Our seniors, they will get the center lanes because this meet [at Williams next Saturday] is all about them," sophomore swimmer Marc Katz said. "It's their day."

Some swimmers will be shaving down for the meet against Williams, in order to make themselves quicker in the water. This ritual usually occurs later in the year before the larger invitational meets, and typically yields faster times.