Although Saturday's meet against MIT came down to the last event, Tufts' inability to win outright victories left it unable to swim away with a victory over the Engineers. Only winning five out of 16 events, the Jumbos dropped the meet 162-138.
The meet was technically undecided until the last event, the 400-yard freestyle relay, but the Jumbos would have had to sweep all three scoring spots, a near impossibility. The Jumbos' fate was decided much earlier, however, as they did not capitalize on their strengths, including the 3-meter dive, an event the Jumbos have consistently won all year.
"We knew going in that MIT was a strong team and that it had strengths in a lot of areas where we had strengths," coach Nancy Bigelow said. "Our team had a solid performance [on Saturday], and it could have gone either way."
A bright spot on the day occurred when senior Chloe Young-Hyman earned three of Tufts' five victories, winning the first one for her team in the 100-yard breaststroke, an event she swam in 1:08.11. Tufts also boasted the third finisher in that race with sophomore Katie Swett swimming a 1:12.65.
Young-Hyman also won the 50-yard freestyle in 25.36, and the 100-yard freestyle, swimming a 54.73.
"I'm swimming extremely well right now," Young-Hyman said. "I've had a little difficulty with my shoulder and had to work though some pain, but I'm swimming about the same or a little better than I was last season at this time."
Senior tri-captain Jess Bollinger also continued her excellent season, finding victory in the 400-yard individual medley with a 4:48.00.
The Tufts quartet of divers, while still performing well, did not dominate in the way they have all season. In the 1-meter dive, junior Kendall Swett occupied her typical spot at the top, scoring 300.5 points. But MIT junior Doria Holbrook, one of the nation's best divers, finished second, with Tufts' freshmen divers taking the next three spots.
In the 3-meter dive, Holbrook took over the top spot from Swett, recording 349.30 points, the nation's top score this year; however, Swett's second place finish was still followed by freshmen Kelsey Bell, Lindsay Gardel and Kara Lindquist, to once again give Tufts four of the top five.
After a training trip in Aruba over winter break, Tufts faced off against NESCAC rivals Williams and Wesleyan on Jan. 14. Without Swett, who was ill, Tufts lost to Williams 171-124, but defeated Wesleyan relatively easily 196-102.
"Wesleyan's a very small team, but every swimmer is extremely strong," Young-Hyman said. "They're a really good team, but they don't have the depth that we do. We thought that if we went out there and swam our best, we'd have a good chance to win, but it wasn't a guarantee."
"I thought people did extremely well [considering] all three teams had just come back from their training trips, and everyone was extremely tired, and we had just arrived [from Aruba] about 12 hours before," she continued.
The only event Tufts won was the 1-meter dive, where Gardel won her first collegiate meet with a score of 260.55. Gardel also hit the NCAA qualifying mark in both the 1- and 3-meter dives, meaning she has to only reach that mark once more in each event before the end of the season in order to garner consideration for Div. III Nationals.
Despite the absence of Swett, the other Jumbo divers performed well. Bell also qualified for the 1-meter dive, and classmate Lindquist qualified for the 3-meter dive. If the divers continue along this progression over the next few weeks, the Jumbos could claim four of the 22 divers competing at Nationals.
"It is very possible that four divers will go to Nationals," Bigelow said. "I just hope that the selection committee does not feel that they can't take so many from one school. The selection committee wants to try to have the best 22 divers in the country at Nationals, so if our women fit into that category, they'll all go."
Bollinger continued her excellent season with a third-place finish in the 1000-yard freestyle, a second-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle, and a fifth-place performance in the 200-yard IM. Junior Tia Bassano finished third in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 2:03.20. Sophomore Michelle Caswell was also strong, improving significantly from her early season form to finish second in the 200-yard backstroke and third in the 100-yard backstroke.
With only two more dual meets before the NESCAC Championships, which begins on Feb. 17, Tufts will begin its taper to reach top form in time for the competition.
"Over the next couple weeks, I feel we all need to focus on the end of the season," Young-Hyman said. "We're all in really good shape right now. It's all about taking care of ourselves and getting mentally prepared. We have to start swimming together as a team and all concentrate on the task ahead of us at NESCACs."
