The women's swimming and diving team returned to its winning ways on Saturday, defending its home turf by trouncing the Bates Bobcats 206-92, and pulling out a 159-141 victory over the Wheaton Lyons in a tri-meet held at Hamilton Pool.
The wins snapped the Jumbos' post-winter break blues, which yielded losses in two out of three January competitions.
"I think yesterday's meet was probably one of the best meets we've had the entire season," senior tri-captain Young-Hyman said. "We knew that Wheaton was going to be an especially tough team to beat, but people swam extremely well and we came out on top."
Young-Hyman and senior tri-captain Jess Bollinger continued their impressive seasons, with Young-Hyman recording one first and two second-place finishes, while Bollinger added three victories to the Tufts effort, winning the 1000-yard freestyle in 10:59.98 over teammate freshman Meredith Cronin. She also added victories in the 500-yard freestyle in 5:20.96, and the 200-yard IM in 2:17.91. This competition marks the first time Bollinger emerged with three victories in a meet.
"Jess has been so consistent and dependable," coach Nancy Bigelow said. "I always know that I can count on her to give 150 percent. She's also a great role model in practice because she's always working very hard."
Young-Hyman won her premier event, the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:07.83, her best non-tapering time, which puts her in excellent position to qualify for nationals for the second year in a row. She also swam to two second place finishes in the 50 and 100 yard freestyles.
As has been the case throughout the season, the diving squad also played a key role in the Tufts victory. Despite the absence of freshman Kelsey Bell, who was sidelined with an illness, the team still managed to take first, third and fifth in each of the two diving events. Junior All-American and reigning Div. III National Champion Kendall Swett won both events, maintaining her dominance with scores of 276.20 and 265.35. Freshman Lindsay Gardel took third in both events with scores of 225.75 and 225.90 respectively, while classmate Kara Lindquist took fifth in both events with scores of 208.40 and 209.45.
"Our diving this year is really, really strong," Young-Hyman said. "They really helped us out in this meet in particular. They really gave us a boost with our win."
Although Tufts beat Bates easily, the meet against Wheaton came down to the final two events. The Jumbos' sweep of the podium positions in the 200-yard IM, with Bollinger taking first, junior Renee Nicolas at second, and sophomore Katie Swett in third, locked up the meet for Tufts. Sophomore Katie Auerbach, who won the 200 yard butterfly with a time of 2:21.14, was the other victor for Tufts.
"Yesterday was a huge team win for us," Bigelow said, "It should help everyone believe that we can do great things when we work together as a team."
The Jumbos' freshmen Saturday continued a season precedent of turning in admirable performances. Most notably, divers Lindquist, Bell and Gardel, and swimmer Cronin have stepped up and played a huge role in the team's success, and across the board, the team's freshmen have improved significantly throughout the season.
"I think that they've been swimming extremely well," Young-Hyman said. "The training in college is definitely different from high school. I'm really excited to see how they swim by the end of the year."
This weekend, the team will head to MIT for its final tune-up before NESCACs, which kick off on Feb. 16 at Williams.
