Team exceeds expectations at NESCAC championships

It's hard for the men's swimming and diving team to perform much better than they did at the NESCAC Championships.

Traveling to Bowdoin under the weight of its own impressive precedent, Tufts men's swimming and diving still managed to exceed expectations for yet another season by placing 3rd overall in the weekend meet while achieving many personal goals and team bests.

In the final standings for the annual championship, the Jumbos finished behind only Amherst and Williams and managed to hold off the formidable Middlebury Panthers, who finished the meet trailing Tufts 1219.50 to 1290.00.

"Middlebury had won NESCAC's two years ago, so it was a goal for us to move up in the standings against them. Beating [Middlebury] was big for us," sophomore swimmer and Tufts' individual high-scorer Jon Godsey said. "It means more than it sounds like. The league has become a lot faster, and every year it is more competitive."

Godsey's conclusion is an understatement. Williams and Amherst controlled the meet; including preliminary and exhibition races. The two schools combined for first place finishes in 36 of 42 event and put athletes in the top seven individual high score slots. Williams has now won the NESCAC title in two of the past three seasons, and will be sending multiple swimmers on to the NCAA national championships.

Still, despite the daunting competition, Tufts quietly settled in and landed only 117 points shy of second place Amherst.

Godsey led the way for Tufts, tying for the 20th overall individual performance with 76 points. He finished 4th overall in the 50 yard backstroke with a final time of 24.61. He was 6th in the 100 backstroke clocking in at 53.18, and swam as part of the 5th ranked 200 and 400 yard inter-medley relay teams.

However, it was Godsey's 4th place performance in the 200 yard backstroke that was most impressive. He notched a time of 1:55.55, good enough for third, in the preliminaries, and finished with an impressive final time of 1:55.69.

"I was happy with all my swims, but the 200 [backstroke] I was most happy with. I took it out fast and just tried to hold on," the sophomore said. "It was a fun race because it was the last day, and the goal was just to do well in the standings."

Other strong performers included juniors Mike Rochette and Seth Baron along with senior Tyler Duckworth. Rochette achieved a personal best and broke Tufts' school record in the 50 yard breaststroke, hitting the wall with the clock at 26.80.

"I was really happy with my time; it was a close race," Rochette said. "The good thing is we achieved our goals, and that's what we set out to do. It was crazy; we were cheering and screaming the whole time up there [at Bowdoin]."

Baron took fourth overall in the 200 yard butterfly with a time of 1:55.27, while Duckworth nailed down fifth in the 200 yard breaststroke with a mark of 2:08.98, both times being good enough for consideration in the NCAA championship meet. Godsey and the 200 yard freestyle relay team, consisting of freshmen Sloan Harris and Mike Kinsella, sophomore Brett Baker and senior Nick Ghoussaini, also are in consideration for NCAA championship positions.

To add to the accolades, coach Don Megerle, finishing his 33rd consecutive season as the driving force behind the Jumbo swimmers, notched his second consecutive NESCAC Coach of the Year award.

The award adds to his already-long list of commendations; the Tufts Master Coach already has five New England Division III Coach of the Year awards, runs both the Division III and Division I national swim meets, and is thought to be this year's recipient of a lifetime achievement award from his alma matter, Bethany College.