Senior co-captain Greg Bettencourt was back to his record-breaking ways at the 2007 Div. III Men's Swimming and Diving Championships, held from March 15-17 in Houston, Texas.
The lone Jumbo representative, Bettencourt emerged with two national top-20 finishes in the 500 and 1,650 freestyle, breaking another Tufts record in the 1,650 freestyle with a time of 16:2.85.
"Greg went into the meet with an amazing amount of focus, and that was great to see," senior Mike Kinsella, who accompanied Bettencourt to the meet, said. "Just because he was the only Tufts swimmer there didn't lessen his dedication and focus to giving his best performance and representing Tufts in a great way, which he did."
Bettencourt broke the record in the final day of the championships, smashing the mark set by Marc Bonnet-Eymard 15 years ago and earning himself a 19th-place finish in the event. The time was significantly faster than his seed time of 16:20.53, which was ranked 25th entering the NCAA race.
"It was definitely a good way to go out, with the record," Bettencourt said. "It was huge to have [Kinsella] there. Last year we had ... seven guys and being the only one this year was very different. It was a great time walking around that pool deck with the best swimmers in Division III."
"I'd have to say I always thought I could break that mile record, especially this year," he continued. "To finally break it is amazing. I told myself, 'screw it, it's going to hurt,' but I was in the best shape and I felt ready to do it."
It wasn't the first time Bettencourt broke a Tufts record this season. In February, the senior toppled the 1,000-freestyle record during the MIT Invitational with a finish of 9:36.06, erasing the old mark of 9:54.51 set by Bonnet-Eymard in 1992.
Bettencourt kicked off his trip to Texas with a 12th-place finish in the finals of the 500 freestyle in 4:33.27 seconds, earning five points as well as honorable mention All-American honors. Bettencourt had qualified for Nationals in the 500 freestyle with his time of 4:36.27 from the NESCAC Championships, ranking him 16th heading into Nationals, but beat that time in the preliminaries with a 4:33.54 finish before improving his time once again in the finals.
"Getting 12th in the 500 was huge," Bettencourt said. "I didn't have a great NESCAC meet - it was off - but at Nationals I felt like I prepared very well to get back where I was last year. I felt so much better; the 500 was a great swim and it felt more like my normal championship swimming."
On March 16, Bettencourt swam to a 27th-place finish in the preliminaries of the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:42.50. With only the top 16 qualifying for the final, St. Olaf sophomore Jake Koch earned the last spot with a 1:41.64 finish, edging out Bettencourt by less than a second.
Williams was the only NESCAC school to finish in the top 10 as a team, totaling 305 points. Eph sophomore Norman Scott took home individual honors in the 100-yard butterfly event on Friday, finishing the race with a time of 49.05 seconds. Williams also placed second in the 800-yard Freestyle Relay and the 400-yard IM on Friday.
On the deck to cheer on teammate senior Steve Spinelli, who finished third in the 1650, and junior David Dolphay, who came in 24th, the Williams squad also gave Bettencourt a boost in his championship race.
"The Williams team happened to be there, and they were on the deck yelling and screaming for me as I swam," Bettencourt said. "The Williams coach was screaming louder than my own coach. It was absolutely nuts."
The meet's major excitement came for Kenyon College, which continued its unparalleled dominance, taking home the gold for the 28th consecutive year. The Lords were untouchable throughout the three-day event, as they racked up a grand total of 570 points, beating runner-up Denison by 219 points.
