The women's swimming team kicked off the season against some heavy competition.
The team traveled to New London, Conn. this past Saturday to compete against Conn. College and Middlebury, and followed by playing host to Trinity on Sunday. The Jumbos split the Conn. College meet, beating the Camels 177-117, but losing to Middlebury 101-199. They followed the mixed results with a 154-133 win over Trinity to close out the weekend.
These early-season meets are often good barometers to help the team work out the lineups for each race in the season's later meets. They are also good markers for the team's potential. As the season is still young, the team has not had many official practices and the swimmers' times are not yet in midseason form.
"We did very well for an opening meet," coach Nancy Bigelow said. "You can lose the meet, but still do a good time for this time of year and still be happy."
Tufts' lone overall win on Saturday occurred in the 200-yard medley relay. Freshman Michelle Caswell, junior Chloe Young-Hyman, senior tri-captain Megan Wallach and classmate Katie Mims won by less than half a second, just edging out Middlebury with a time of 1:53.29.
Although no other Jumbos took in an overall first-place finish on Saturday, many Jumbos swam their way into second place. Sophomore Tia Bassano swam to a second-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle, after leading for most of the race. She finished in 2:01.41, just behind Middlebury freshman Cornelieke Lammers, who finished in 2:01.01. Caswell added on to her stellar day with a second-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle, swimming 1:03.27. The women's 400-yard freestyle relay team of Caswell, Mims, freshman Kayla Burke, and Young-Hyman also took home second place with a time of 3:44.78.
Other second place finishes for Tufts included Hyman-Young in the 100-yard freestyle, senior Jess Schwartz in the one and three meter dives, sophomore Alison Palomaki in the 200-yard breaststroke, and sophomore Renee Nicolas in the 200-yard IM. Although the Panthers' barrage of talent put them out of the Jumbos' reach, Tufts' solid performance against Conn. College bodes well for the coming season.
"Conn. had beaten us for the past few years," senior tri-captain Kristen Hyland said. "So it was a really big deal to beat them."
On Sunday, the team downed Trinity in a close matchup. Tufts won nine overall events enroute to a 154-133 victory in the meet, the team's only home meet of the year, and the seniors were honored before the meet in a ceremony.
Highlights of Sunday's meet included Hyland winning the 1000-meter freestyle in a time of 11:32.13 and the Tufts' 200-yard medley relay team once again taking home first place. The freshmen also had a big day, with both Caswell and Katie Swett emerging victorious in the 200-yard freestyle and 100-yard backstroke, respectively.
After this weekend's meets, the team looks towards tomorrow's matchup against Wesleyan. One of the Jumbos' biggest goals this year is to take advantage of dual meets and come out with the win, and tomorrow's meet will give the Jumbos a chance to do just that before the holiday.
