All season long, the women's swimming and diving team has relied on a trio of stars to lift it past the competition. This weekend was no exception.
Senior tri-captains Jess Bollinger and Chloe Young-Hyman, along with junior Kendall Swett, the reigning 3-meter diving national champion, led Tufts to a fifth-place finish out of a field of 14 at the NESCAC Championships held at Williams on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The squad notched 888.5 points, trailing Williams (1757), Amherst (1600.5), Middlebury (1553.5), and Conn. College (1044.5).
"This year, it seems like NESCACs has been a lot faster than it has in the past," Young-Hyman said. "Conn and Colby were our toughest rivals, and I think we were all happy with the way we swam and the meet turned out."
Both Young-Hyman and Bollinger hit the Nationals B qualifying standard, while Swett, who has already qualified for Nationals, set a new conference record in the 1-meter dive.
"I was very happy with how everyone performed," coach Nancy Bigelow said. "Fifth was a very respectable finish for us. Conn. College had too much depth for us to catch them and it was very close for the next three teams."
Young-Hyman put forth her strongest performance in the 100-yard breaststroke, an event in which she qualified for Nationals last year. This weekend, she finished third in 1:06.61, a B qualifying time for Nationals, and a new Tufts record. Whether or not she makes Nationals this year depends upon the times of the other B qualifiers in the event.
"I went three lifetime bests, so I was very happy with the way the meet went," Young-Hyman said.
Young-Hyman also finished second in the 50-yard breaststroke, an event that is not swum at Nationals. Despite these successful performances, Young-Hyman still finished behind Colby junior All-American Kelly Norsworthy, who also took the 200-yard breaststroke crown and tied for the highest overall point total at the meet with 96.
Bollinger also hit the national B qualifying standard in her best event, the 400-yard IM, finishing fourth with a time of 4:37.52, in a field where seven swimmers hit the national standard. Bollinger also finished seventh in the 1650-yard freestyle, swimming 18:01.
"I think [Chloe and Jess] were very happy with their swims and glad that all their hard work paid off," Bigelow said. "They have set an excellent example for the underclassmen and were strong leaders in and out of the water."
Swett also set an example - for her teammates as well as the rest of the conference - easily winning both the 1- and 3-meter dives. She smashed a conference record in the 1-meter dive in the preliminaries with a score of 486.80, while leading three other Tufts divers into the eight-person finals.
Freshmen Lindsay Gardel, Kelsey Bell and Kara Lindquist were unfazed by the championship 11-dive format, and finished third, sixth and eighth, respectively.
The 3-meter dive was much of the same, as Swett won once again. But this time, she fell 0.6 points short of setting a new conference record with a dive of 482.25. Gardel and Bell remained in the same positions at third and sixth, while Lindquist dropped a spot to ninth and just missed making finals by 1.2 points.
"We scored a ton of points with our divers," Bigelow said. "It's huge to have them all score in the top nine on both boards. It's also nice for them to have a strong group of teammates to push each other in practice."
The Jumbos' lack of depth compared to schools like Amherst and Williams was most evident in the relays. In the five relays held, Tufts registered a disqualification, a sixth-place finish, a seventh-place finish, and two eighth-place finishes, hurting any chance of finishing fourth.
Almost all of Tufts' 24 competitors had an impact on the final score, since each event scored the top 24 finishers. Freshman Meredith Cronin swam especially well, with a sixth-place finish in the 1000-yard freestyle. Sophomore Katie Swett took 13th in the 200-yard IM and 10th in the 400-yard IM, while sophomore Michelle Caswell was 13th in the 100-yard backstroke and 15th in the 200-yard backstroke. All will be expected to play much larger roles next season with the losses of Bollinger and Young-Hyman.
Young-Hyman and Bollinger, as well as the Tufts' trio of freshman divers, all have qualified provisionally for the Div. III National Championships, while Swett has essentially assured herself a bid. All five of these Jumbo swimmers will be eagerly waiting for the announcement of national invitations occurring during this week.
