The women's swimming and diving team continued its strong winter this past weekend with a dominant showing against Bates in the last scoring meet of the season.
The meet was more lopsided than the 158-129 the score indicates, as Tufts swam the last three events as an exhibition once a victory was assured. The Jumbos are 6-3 in dual meets, with only a non-scored invitational and championship meets remaining.
"I knew we were going to do well, but I didn't know we were going to do that well," coach Nancy Bigelow said. "They're starting to feel a little better in the water."
Tufts' distance swimmers raced well Saturday, carrying both the 500 and 1000-yard freestyles. Tufts placed the top four swimmers in each event, which were won by freshman Kayla Burke in 5:30.75 and freshman Lily Safran in 11:10.89, respectively. Burke and Safrans' performances were representative of a strong showing by the freshman class.
Along with her victory in the 500-yard freestyle, Burke also won the 200-yard freestyle (2:02.21). First-year Michelle Caswell won the 50-yard backstroke in a time of 29.93 and classmate Katie Swett won the 400-yard IM in 4:51.98, but did not score any points, as the event was being counted as an exhibition.
"We were very satisfied with how the team did," senior tri-captain Meghan Wallach said. "We were really excited with some surprise swims that people did extremely well in."
Wallach can indeed be satisfied with her first-place 1:02.07 swim in the 100-yard butterfly, and junior Chloe Young-Hyman continued her fine season with a victory in the 50-yard backstroke. Young-Hyman has won all of her non-relay events in the last two meets and, according to Wallach, is only getting better each time she gets in the water.
Senior Katie Mims won the 50-yard freestyle in 25.78, and sophomore Tia Bassano took the 100-yard freestyle in 55.96.
Tufts' traditionally strong 200-yard medley relay, composed of Caswell, Young-Hyman, Wallach, and Mims won in 1:55.37.
Historically, the Jumbos have had many close battles with Bates, but the graduation of two All-American swimmers and many other standout swimmers has weakened the Bobcat roster. Tufts, led by its strong freshman class, took advantage of Bates' rebuilding year and recorded a convincing victory.
The Jumbos will compete at the Middlebury Invitational on Saturday, the last meet of the regular season and a final opportunity to achieve personal bests for 21 of the team's swimmers. The remaining 24-person squad, looking ahead to the NESCAC Championships, will use the Invitational as a chance to tune up and experiment with new events that they may swim at NESCACs.
At the conclusion of their dual-meet season, the Jumbos have competed against seven NESCAC schools, beating five of them. The depth showcased in those dual meets should make the team's goal of a top-five NESCACs finish within reach.
