Greg Bettencourt owns the 1000 freestyle record, and he has the credentials to prove it.
This weekend, the senior co-captain rewrote the Tufts record books, crushing the 1000 freestyle record by 18 seconds with a swim of 9:36.06 seconds at the MIT Invitational on Friday evening. The previous record, held by Marc Bonnet-Eymard in 1992, was 9:54.51.
"Throughout the whole meet there was a lot of energy," Bettencourt said. "It was pretty easy to get fired up with that kind of atmosphere. Anytime you go into a meet like that with a great team and great competitors a little adrenaline goes a long way."
Though he has put in all the training necessary to succeed thus far, Bettencourt owed much of his success to his teammates.
"I've known for a while that the record was something I could do." Bettencourt said. "But guys like [senior] Mike [Kinsella] can psych me up like no one can. [On Friday] he told me to slow down, which is something you never do, and I figured if he's telling me to slow down something good must be happening."
Bettencourt's record-breaking performance was not a big surprise to his teammates.
"That's a testament to the kind of man he is," Kinsella said. "He trains like an animal and the kind of dedication he brings in and out of the pool is amazing. Greg is the type of guy who goes into practice and gives it all he's got."
As if breaking a 15-year-old record was not enough, Bettencourt blew the competition out of the water on Saturday as he swam the 500 freestyle in 4:41.22, beating the runner-up, Williams sophomore Jeremy Goldstein by more than 10 seconds. While Bettencourt swept two events at the MIT Invitational, freshman Gene Kurtysh turned in a win of his own, touching the wall first in a 50 freestyle time trail with a time of 22.83 seconds.
"With the amazing time drops that many of us had, it's clear that all the hard work and sacrifices have paid off big time," Kinsella said.
"I thought the guys swam exceptionally well at MIT," senior Nathan Cronin added. "Many of them even surprised themselves."
The MIT Invitational marked the last regular season meet for the men's swimming and diving team as it competed against the host Engineers, Wheaton College, and NESCAC rivals Williams and Middlebury. The meet did not hold scores between teams but was still a crucial race for the swimmers who were trying to make the cut for coach Hoyt's NESCAC team. The NESCAC team will be announced this week and will compete in the NESCAC Championship meet on Feb. 23-25, hoping to extend its season to NCAAs in March.
"It's a tough decision," Bettencourt said. "There are 17 guys competing for a small number of spots - we're still not sure who will make the NESCAC team."
Once the team is announced, the remaining Jumbos will be back in the water, focusing hard on their technique and finessing their swims.
For the Jumbos, this season has been about sacrifice, dedication, and hard work - and the team would not have it any other way.
"Continually pushing your comfort level and your limits is the best way to find out what you're really made of, and that's what swimming is all about," Kinsella said. "I can't even begin to fathom how amazing these last six weeks are going to be. We are going to swim out of our minds at NESCACs and then again at NCAAs."
While the Jumbos are excited about the swims they have ahead of them at both NESCACs and NCAAs, the primary focus now is turning in a top finish for the team at the NESCAC meet in two-and-a-half weeks.
"We have one focus and that's NESCACs," Bettencourt said. "We finished second in the conference with a lot of huge swims and I think the team is ready to turn some heads again. I know we have a shot and I'm excited."
