It's going to take more than turkey and stuffing to sink the men's swimming and diving team, who, after retuning to Medford from Thanksgiving Break, made quick work of its two opponents and has a strong chance of heading into the winter vacation at a perfect 6-0.
The Jumbos defeated Babson on Thursday and Bowdoin on Saturday, winning the two meets by an impressive combined margin of 282-190. The score is actually a watered-down version of the events, as multiple winning races swam by the Jumbos were kept out of the point totals to make the victories seem less robust.
Junior Mike Kinsella sees the mercy rule as a show of good faith and as compensation for the disparities in team size, as Tufts' 42-strong roster often is much larger than those of its opponents.
"I think coaches do it as a common courtesy to the coach of the other team," said Kinsella, who had a hand in four different first-place finishes throughout the weekend. "For example, on Thursday, Babson had 13 swimmers, so it was more a question of how much we were going to win by. If you're crushing a team, you don't just keep running up the score."
Kinsella was a dominating factor in Saturday's meet, taking first in both the 50- and 100-yard freestyle events despite the presence of Bowdoin freshman David Swanson, a touted recruit who was expected to prove stiff competition for Kinsella. Kinsella won the 50-yard event in 22.08, with Swanson right on his heels for a second place finish of 22.29.
"Swanson was the first real competition I've had in that event this year outside of my own teammates, and it's more fun to have someone you can race, instead of someone you can kill," Kinsella said. "My [teammate] Greg Bettencourt, he's familiar with the Bowdoin swim team, and was joking with them and me all week, telling me how [Swanson] had been saying things. But [Swanson] and I didn't talk after the race, maybe because he lost."
Bettencourt himself played a role in three first-place finishes, taking first in the 200- and 500-yard freestyle events, as well as swimming a leg of the first place 400-yard freestyle relay team along with Kinsella and senior quad-captains Jason Kapit and Brett Baker. Bettencourt's 200-yard freestyle time of 4:52.95 is the fastest recorded by any Tufts swimmer this season, and is thought to be the fastest 200-yard freestyle time to date in the NESCAC. Jumbo senior Jeff Goldberg placed second with a time of 5:12.80.
Kinsella, Kapit and Baker, along with senior Jon Godsey also swam as part of the 400-yard medley team, edging the nearest Bowdoin relay team by 2.5 seconds to take first with a time of 3:39.49. Godsey also finished first in the 100-yard butterfly, Kapit placed second in the 100-yard butterfly and 200 yard butterfly, and Baker finished second in the 200-yard freestyle, behind Bettencourt.
Overall, Jumbo swimmers finished first in ten out of 14 races, placed second in all the races they didn't win and placed second and third in most of the races that fellow teammates also already had won. In addition, senior diver Todd Putnam won both the one and three meter dives unopposed.
The results of the Babson meet were unavailable at print time, but according to Kinsella and Kapit, the outcome was similar, if not more lopsided than, the Bowdoin win.
While the impressive point totals and wins are encouraging, such dominating showings at this stage in the season are not terribly important. Swimming and diving differ from many other intercollegiate sports in that wins during the regular season have less of an impact on the criteria for season success.
"Winning or losing in swimming during the regular season isn't necessarily the main focus as to what creates a successful season," Kapit said. "Rather, when we swim against all the NESCAC teams at the end of the year in [the NESCAC championships], the way we finish at that meet really determines how successful our season was."
Kapit highlighted the unpredictable nature of the NESCAC championship compared to dual meets during the regular season.
"At this point we usually know how we should fare against each opponent, but at the NESCAC meet it's more difficult to gauge how each team is going to do because everyone has had time to rest," he said. "It's different than the regular season, when you can predict who will win a meet before it actually begins."
The squad returns to action this weekend against Brandeis for its final meet before the winter recess. When asked what the team was expecting of the Judges, Kapit was confident.
"I'd say Bowdoin was probably tougher competition than Brandeis will be," he said.
