The men's swimming and diving team entered the 2005 NESCAC championship with confidence and high expectations, and by the end of the weekend Tufts had delivered one of its best championship performances ever.
During the championship, held at Wesleyan University, the Jumbos finished fourth out of a field of 11 teams, broke eight school records, and clocked several Div. III NCAA qualifying times.
Williams got first place with 1,862 points, nearly 500 points ahead of second-place Middlebury. Tufts, however, was not far behind Middlebury and Amherst, finishing with 1,133.5 points.
The most impressive individual performances were by juniors Brett Baker and Jon Godsey, who each posted three individual top-five finishes and National B qualifying times.
Baker led the way for the Jumbos in the freestyle events. The high point was Baker's first-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle with a National B qualifying time of 1:41.53 seconds. Baker dominated the event, beating Colby freshman Evan Mullin by almost three seconds.
He also broke Brian Herrick's nine-year old Tufts school record of 1:42.33. Baker was just as impressive in the 100 yard freestyle, placing second to Williams junior Will Cunningham by only half a second. Baker's time of 46.64 was a National B qualifying time. He also posted a fourth-place finish in the 50 free, touching in 21.46 seconds.
Godsey had excellent swims in the backstroke events. On the first day of competition, he earned a second-place finish in the 50 backstroke, breaking his own school record in a time of 24.12 seconds. Only three tenths of a second separated Godsey from first place finisher Amherst junior Rick Estacio. Godsey earned two fifth-place finishes in the 100 and 200 backstroke. He achieved National B times of 52.25 in the 100 and 1:54.36 in the 200 during preliminaries.
Sophomore Greg Bettencourt also had an impressive meet, posting a third place finish in the 200 free with a time of 1:44.13. Senior tri-captain Seth Baron finished third in the 200 butterfly, improving his own record and earning a National B qualifying time in a preliminary time of 1:54.27.
Junior Jason Kapit posted two national qualifying times in the 400 individual medley and the 200 butterfly. Kapit placed fifth in the 400 IM and broke Tyler Duckworth's ('04) school record in a time of 4:10.56. He also finished seventh in the 200 butterfly behind his teammate, Baron.
The Tufts relay teams earned the Jumbos a tremendous amount of points. Bettencourt, sophomore Justin Fanning, Baron, and Baker teamed up in the 800 freestyle relay and finished in second place with a National B qualifying and school-record time of 6:56.12. The 400 free relay team of junior Jason Kapit, Fanning, Bettencourt, and Baker placed third in a National B time of 3:08.16.
The 400 and 200 Medley Relay teams also set school records and posted National B cuts. The 400 relay team of senior tri-captain Mike Rochette, Baron, and Fanning placed fourth with 3:29.78. Godsey's leadoff 100 backstroke leg of 51.83 broke Herrick's 11 year-old Jumbo mark. The 200 relay of Godsey, Rochette, Kapit, and Baker finished in fifth.
The Jumbos' diver, junior Todd Putnam, finished seventh in the three-meter competition, earning 356.95 points for Tufts.
