Women beginning to put it all together with road win

The women's swimming and diving team earned its seventh straight victory this past Saturday as the Jumbos trekked up to Lewiston, Maine to defeat the Bates Bobcats, 167-133.

The win puts the Jumbos at 8-1 overall on the year, with their only loss coming three meets into the season against Connecticut College.

"As a team, everyone swam really well and finished their races really happy with what they had done, either time-wise or technique-wise," senior tri-captain Amanda Bloom said. "Everyone is starting to put together everything we've worked on all season."

Senior tri-captain Mika Sumiyoshi led the Jumbos to victory on Saturday. Sumiyoshi dominated every event in which she entered, and has yet to lose an individual race or relay event all season. She took first place in the 200 yard freestyle with a time of 1:57.94, the 200 backstroke at 2:14.44, and the 200 individual medley (IM) clocking in a 2:11.58. She continued to prove her dominance in the NESCAC by taking the 200 backstroke and IM by more than five and six seconds, respectively, setting a pool record in the 200 IM.

In addition, Sumiyoshi teamed up with freshman Deirdre Cannell, sophomore Katie Mims, and freshman Alaina Thiel to win the 200 freestyle relay with a time of 1:40.97.

Tufts' prodigious freshmen joined Sumiyoshi as the only Jumbo swimmers to rack up multiple W's, accounting for all ten of Tufts' first place finishes. Thiel captured the 50 and 100 freestyle events in 25.16 and 54.25, respectively. Mims took third in both the 50 and 100, while freshman Eva Johnson sped home to a fifth place finish in the 100, all adding valuable points to the Jumbos' score sheet.

Cannell dominated the pack in the 100 and 200 breaststroke, winning the 100 by over five seconds with a time of 1:11.00. Junior Katharine Ferguson and senior Bridie McElroy took second and fourth place respectively in the 100 with times of 1:11.58 and 1:18.05, while Ferguson and freshman Angela Chou finished two-three behind Cannell in the 200.

Freshman Jess Bollinger rounded out the pack with victories in the 500 freestyle (5:25.82) and the 1000 freestyle (10:58.36). Bloom and sophomore Kristen Hyland went two-three in the 1000, giving Tufts a combined total of 16 points in the event.

"Those three girls have been amazing all season," Bloom said. "It's hard to come in as a freshman and do this well, but they've found their niches on the team and they are not timid at all. They all show a lot of maturity in the water and have become a real integral part of the team."

The 200 IM relay squad made up of sophomore Meghan Wallach, senior tri-captain Kierstyn Thayer, Cannell, and Thiel, which usually handily defeats all other relay teams, suffered a rare loss to Bates' 'A' team by .09 seconds. Tufts' B squad, however, earned valuable points with a third place finish, just .19 seconds ahead of Bates' 'B' squad in fourth.

The rowdy Jumbos on the sidelines were a big part of Tufts' success at Bates.

"We really showed a lot of unity, even out-cheering Bates at their home pool," Bloom said. "One of our goals at the beginning of the season was to be a strong unit, and we really showed it this weekend."

The Tufts divers, led by senior Beth Wecksell, kept up their consistent ways against the Bobcats. Wecksell finished second in the one meter diving event, while sophomore Jess Schwartz took fifth place, coming up short to fourth place finisher, Bates sophomore Nachelle Wiegman, by less than half a point.

The three meter event was a virtual carbon copy of the one meter, as Wecksell took second place and Schwartz battled her way to fifth.

The Jumbos have just one meet remaining before the NESCAC championships at Wesleyan February 20-22. Unfortunately for Tufts, that meet comes against swimming powerhouse and three-time NESCAC champion Williams College in Williamstown, where the Ephs are virtually unbeatable. A strong showing for the Jumbos would certainly give them enough confidence to seriously contend for the top three spots in the conference at Wesleyan the following weekend.

"Williams is a very strong team, and I know we'll do the best we can against them but I don't think we're going to win," Sumiyoshi said. "We're heading into NESCAC's excited to compete and do better than we have in the past. We were sixth last year, and our goal this year is to be somewhere in the top five."