The men's swimming and diving team started its season off with two NESCAC wins this past weekend and proved it could win both at home and on the road, taking a meet from Conn. College at Hamilton Pool on Saturday and earning another at Trinity on Sunday.
The Jumbos downed Trinity on Sunday, taking first in nine events to win, 153-130. Returning All-American and senior co-captain Greg Bettencourt shone in the performance, taking first in the 1000 free (10:22.74) and mixed 50 free (22.91) and setting a new Trinity pool record in the 50-yard butterfly in a time of 24.53 seconds. Senior Justin Fanning also added points to the Jumbos' side as he claimed three events including the 500, 200 and 50 yard freestyle.
Coach Adam Hoyt decided to shuffle the relay teams against Trinity, allowing the younger members to compete with the more experienced swimmers.
"We were able to mix up the relays a little bit against Trinity," senior co-captain Ray Radovich said. "It's nice because it gives people a little bit of a different look at what they are swimming for."
Hoyt replaced three legs of the class 'A' 400-yard medley relay team that finished first on Saturday. Senior Mike Kinsella anchored the relay both days, but Sunday's relay swapped freshman Robert Delean, junior Sean Sullivan and senior Carlo Jacob for freshman Lawrence Chan, Fanning and Bettencourt. While the revamped lineup finished second, it gave the Jumbos the chance to see where they could improve as a team.
"Coach told us that he hopes everyone came away with something that they can work on at practice over the next week," said senior Nathan Cronin, who collected a first-place finish in the 200 breaststroke on Sunday. "These first few meets serve as a benchmark, and everyone can get a sense of where they are now, and what they need to do to move forward.
"Overall, I'm excited about what I saw this weekend," he continued. "If we continue to improve from where we are now, we are going to have a very successful season."
Bettencourt swept two events on Sunday to lead the Jumbos over Conn. College, swimming 1:46.12 to take the 200 freestyle by four seconds and winning the 500 free with a time of 4:53.34.
Thanks to the impressive performances from returning All-American seniors Kinsella and Fanning, the Jumbos also took first in the 100 backstroke and 50 freestyle. The foursome of Fanning, Chan, Bettencourt and Kinsella also captured first in the 200 medley relay (1:37.93) and the 400 freestyle relay (3:14.20).
At the end of the day, the Jumbos had tallied up eight first-place performances and despite the Camels' efforts to upset the Jumbos in their season opener, the men's team shut the door on Conn. College with a final score of 187.5 to 99.5 and notched their first win to this season's record.
Despite the large point gap between the two teams, Radovich had nothing but praise for the young Conn. College team, which was coached by Tufts graduate and record holder Marc Benvenuti.
"They have an up-and-coming program," Radovich said. "They had one or two swimmers that were really good along, with a good distance swimmer. Their flyer also broke our pool record by over a second last year, which is impressive."
After Thanksgiving break, the Jumbos will travel to Babson College on Nov. 30 where they will face the Beavers at 7 p.m. The men's team has defeated Babson for three consecutive year and is looking for a four-peat. The meet is the team's third in a string of five dual meets that opens the 2006-2007 schedule. One-on-one meets were a strong spot for the Jumbos last season, as they amassed a 9-1 dual meet record.
"[Babson's] team is smaller than ours, but there will still be many good races," Cronin said. "At this stage of the season, the focus is less on winning and more on learning how to swim strong, smart races and improving each week. This early in the season, there is always room for improvement."
