The team that had been setting records and turning heads all season long had one thing left to prove.
The men's swimming and diving team returned from the NCAA Div. III Championships, held on Mar. 16-18 in Minneapolis, with its best finish in over 25 years, placing 10th with 119.5 points.
"I was really thrilled with the way everyone swam, and getting top 10 was unbelievable," junior Mike Kinsella said. "Going in [to the season] we said we'd really like to increase our showing at nationals and get into the top 25. We really showed everyone that we could compete on that level with anyone in the nation."
The Jumbos were led by senior Jon Godsey, who picked up two individual All-American awards and set two new school records, in addition to swimming in the 800 yard freestyle relay team, which finished fourth overall.
"We knew that top 15 would be reachable if we all swam at a NESCAC level," Godsey said. "For us to finish 10th was somewhat of a pleasant surprise."
Godsey earned his individual awards in the 100 and 200 yard backstroke and set a school record in the 200 yard individual medley. He swam to an eighth-place finish in the 100-yard backstroke in 51.54, sneaking into the last spot that merits All-American honors. In the 200-yard backstroke, Godsey finished sixth with a time of 1:51.94 in the finals. His 1:50.89 preliminary time from earlier in the day set a new school record. In addition, although Godsey finished 34th in the 200 yard medley, his time of 1:56.09 also broke a Tufts record.
"To finish up a career as a three-time All-American and tenth-place as a team was just the icing on the cake," Godsey said.
With its fourth-place finish, the Tufts 800 yard freestyle relay team, composed of Godsey, senior quad-captain Brett Baker, junior Greg Bettencourt, and junior Justin Fanning, also earned All-American honors. The relay swam 6:48.55, bettering their preliminary time by 1.4 seconds and edging out fifth-place Emory University by .16 seconds.
"This year we were just really deep in the 200 yard freestyle [leg]," Kinsella said. "Going into Nationals, that was the one event that we were expecting to do as well as we did. It was unbelievable but that was not a shock."
Bettencourt added to his relay All-American award with an individual one in the 500 yard freestyle, finishing eighth in 4:35.81. In the preliminaries, he broke his own school record with a time of 4:32.57. Bettencourt picked up an additional honorable mention All-American with his thirteenth-place performance in the 200 yard freestyle (1:41.78.)
Baker also earned another All-American award, swimming to a seventh place finish in the 200 yard freestyle with a time of 1:41.40. He earned honorable mention All-American status in three relays - the 400 yard medley, the 400 yard freestyle and the 200 yard freestyle.
The 400 yard medley squad of Baker, Godsey, Bettencourt and junior Mike Kinsella swam 3:29.55, enough for an 11th-place finish. The 400 yard freestyle relay of Bettencourt, Fanning, Shields and Baker also finished 11th in a time of 3:06.06. The 200 yard-freestyle team featuring Kinsella, Baker, freshman Andrew Shields and junior Jason Kapit finished in 1:24.03, good for twelfth place; and the 200 yard medley relay consisting of Godsey, Kinsella, Bettencourt and Shields swam 1:35.86 for a fifteenth place finish.
"[The team's performance] far exceeded what we were hoping for," Baker said. "Everyone swam as well as they were expected to, if not better."
