The men's swimming and diving team made the most of the culminating event of the season, sweeping one event, breaking a team record, and recording seven NCAA B-cut times.
In the end, however, the NESCAC Championship gold went to Williams College, which took four individual titles en route to an unprecedented score of 2019.5 points. Amherst collected the silver with an overall score of 1,308 while the Jumbos finished just two points behind in third place.
"It was disappointing that it came down to two points," senior co-captain Mike Kinsella said. "It's a tough pill to swallow, but coach said something that stuck - he said he never thought he'd be so happy for third place. He was really proud of what the team did."
Despite looking a little tight going into the Championships, the squad settled down quickly to earn some top finishes.
"In the middle of the meet, all the guys relaxed and put together some great swims," coach Adam Hoyt said. "While it was tough to lose second place to Amherst by two points I could not be more proud of our team. To be able to make adjustments halfway through our championship meet was very impressive."
Freshman Lawrence Chan headed the effort with a bang on Friday with a title-winning swim in the 50 breaststroke. Chan, who placed sixth in the event's preliminaries with a time of 27.48 seconds, broke out a first-place finish of 26.83 seconds to beat Middlebury senior Tim Luxe.
"I just went out there and swam," Chan said. "You try not to think about who you're swimming against and just go out there and get it done."
It was the first trip to NESCACs for the Jumbo freshmen, and the experience was unparalleled.
"It was amazing," Chan said. "It was great to just go out there and swim against incredible teams and watch our guys do their best. The fans and the cheering were by far the best."
Jumbo sophomore James Longhurst was third to touch the wall in the event, adding more points to the Jumbos' scorecard with a time of 27.02. Tufts' 200-meter freestyle relay team of Kinsella and sophomores Andrew Shields, Ben Mitchell and Matt Murphy also earned an impressive second-place finish on Friday with a time of 1:23.83. Kinsella also added a national B-cut qualifying time with his preliminary performance in the 50 freestyle in a time of 21.22 seconds.
Saturday was a busy day for the Jumbos as they added three more national B-cut times to their collection and broke a school record. Kinsella's younger brother, freshman Patrick Kinsella, was a top contributor to the team's success as he broke a 15-year-old Tufts record in the 1,000 freestyle with a time of 9:53:56. The younger Kinsella earned a fifth-place finish at the NESCAC Championships and a place in the Tufts record books with his time as he replaced the old mark of 9:54.51 set by Marc Bonnet-Eymard in 1992.
Despite all of the rookie accolades, the freshmen attribute their success to upperclassmen leadership.
"They go out there and get it done and we tag along," Chan said. "When the team gets down, [the seniors] come over and get us going and get us up. Their actions and enthusiasm rub off on us and they have set a great example for us to follow."
Senior co-captain Greg Bettencourt finished runner-up in the 200 freestyle final with a time of 1:42.45, just behind William's freshman Rob Hannigan who finished in 1:41.69. Bettencourt qualified for the NCAA Championships in the 200 freestyle with his first-place finish of 1:42.49 in the preliminary round.
The Jumbos also placed second with a national B-cut time in the 800 freestyle relay. The foursome of Shields, Bettencourt, senior Justin Fanning and freshman Gene Kurtysh swam a time of 6:56.89, falling behind the Ephs' NESCAC-record swim of 6:48.17 seconds. The Jumbos made the national B-cut in the 200 medley relay with members Fanning, Chan, Bettencourt and Kinsella, who posted a first-place time of 1:35.09 in the preliminaries.
On Sunday Bettencourt added another NCAA B-cut time as he finished fourth in the 1,650 freestyle in a time of 16:20.53. Freshman diver Rob Matera also had an outstanding second-place finish in the three-meter dive with a total of 421.35 points.
Now, the Jumbos must wait to see which members of the team will be booking their flights to the NCAA Championships in Houston, Texas held March 15-17.
"I'm definitely happy about our performance," Kinsella said. "There are some things I wish I could've done better but I'm really proud of the team - bottom line. All the guys, everyone gave it 110 percent and that was the biggest thing for us."
"I was most proud of the team for sticking together throughout this meet and for the fan support we got throughout the entire event," Hoyt said. "To see our guys leaving everything they had in the pool and seeing people in the stands cheering their hearts out for our team was very special. It was a meet I will always remember and a great finale to our season."
