The men's swimming and diving team breezed past Trinity Saturday, receiving key performances from a mix of returning swimmers as well as solid debuts from a handful of freshmen.
In its season, NESCAC and home opener Tufts notched a 156-106 win at Hamilton Pool, placing a swimmer in the top spot of every event.
The meet started off on the right foot, as the Jumbos recorded a victory in the 200-yard medley relay, as Tufts' A team of sophomore Lawrence Chan, freshman Matt Glenn and juniors Ben Mitchell and Andrew Shields bested the Tufts B team for first place.
It was all downhill from there for Trinity, a team that finished 10th in the NESCAC last season.
"It is a good start for the year and hopefully we can build from our performances in the first meet," senior tri-captain Drew Curhan said. "The first meet is always a great place for us to know what we need to improve on and how we can do better. But that is not taking away from how we did. We all did a great job and everyone exceeded their expectations."
Underclassmen led the way for the Jumbos, as sophomores Chan and Rob Matera along with freshmen Glenn and David Meyer all finished first in two events.
After finishing first in the NESCAC last season in the 50 breaststroke, Chan won the event Saturday in 27 seconds flat, setting a Hamilton Pool record. Tufts took the top three in that event, with junior James Longhurst and freshman Gordy Jenkins coming in second and third, respectively.
Chan also bested the field with a 2:03.33 finish in the 200 individual medley, though it did not go in the books as official victory, having been raced as an exhibition.
"We gel the best when we are all swimming together and cheering each other on," junior Ben Moskowitz said. "So for us that meet was great. We all got up and got really excited for it and we are really pumped to have come out with a win."
Matera, meanwhile, dominated both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events, though both were counted as exhibitions. The sophomore bested the field by almost 100 points in the 1-meter with a score of 281.78. The Jumbos also received top finishes from Moskowitz in the 50 butterfly in 24.88 and sophomore Kyle Jones in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:05.87, though once again, neither counted as an actual race.
On the other hand, Meyer and Glenn both accumulated points for Tufts with their wins. Meyer was first with a time of 1:49.19 for the team as it swept the top five spots in the 200 freestyle and also won the 100 freestyle in 48.58.
Glenn was the top finisher in both backstroke events for the Jumbos. His time of 25.59 was just ahead of freshman Michael Del Moro in the 50-meter race; he also won the 100-meter in 54.99. Tufts also got wins from three other freshmen - Chris Vorlicek in the 1,000-meter freestyle, Zed Debbaut in the 100 breaststroke, and Andrew Altman in the 50 freestyle sprint.
"[The freshmen] swam really well," Curhan said. "They have been training really hard and it paid off in this meet for them. They put up some great times and their performances helped the team."
The Jumbos will not race again until Nov. 30, when they take part in the two-day MIT Invitational, which will give them a chance to face some top-level competition for the first time this season.
"We swam really great for the first meet of the season but there is always room for improvement," Moskowitz said. "With ... hard work and practice we are going to get faster and get better and better."
