Rob Matera, Men's Swimming and Diving
Sophomore Rob Matera finished off a successful week on Saturday in a meet against MIT at Hamilton Pool, with a clean sweep of both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events. With scores of 294.38 and 299.85, Matera exerted his dominance in diving by blowing out the competition by over 40 points in both events.
Matera has been a constant success and emerged as an extremely reliable member of the men's swimming and diving team over the past two seasons. Since December, Matera has won an astounding 8-of-10 diving events in which he has participated, with a close second-place finish to Wesleyan's David Wilkinson in the one-meter event at Wesleyan on January 19th. However, Matera managed to win the three-meter event at that same meet. The other loss came in the three-meter event against Div. I Boston College on January 16th, a meet in which Matera won the one-meter event.
Unfortunately, Matera's success has not always transferred into wins for the Tufts team as a whole. The Jumbos have gone 3-2 in meets in which Matera has won an event since the MIT Invitational on December 1st in which the Jumbos came in 2nd out of 6 teams.
Matera seems primed to win his second consecutive All-NESCAC Honor, an award he captured last season after a second-place finish in the three-meter finals and a sixth-place finish in the one-meter finals.
Matera and the Tufts team have two remaining meets prior to the NESCAC Championships: Feb. 2nd at Wheaton with Bates and Feb. 8-9 at the Middlebury Invitational.
Meredith Cronin, Women's Swimming and Diving
Sophomore Meredith Cronin led the women's swimming and diving team on Saturday in a big win against MIT at Hamilton Pool, pulling in three victories in the 1,000 yard freestyle, 100-yard backstroke, and 200-yard backstroke.
In Tufts' 164-136 victory, Cronin's three wins were essential. She won the 1,000 yard freestyle in 10:43.38, beating the second place finisher Nicole O'Keeffe from MIT by over 20 seconds.
Her second win in the 100 yard backstroke came in at 1:02.89, with teammate Michelle Caswell next to finish 1:06.48, and MIT competitor Jen Chao at 1:07.23.
Cronin's final victory in the 200 yard backstroke was in 2:15.71, with her two teammates Renee Nicholas and Monika Burns rounding off the top three sweep.
Cronin also contributed to Tufts' overall victory in the 200 yard freestyle relay A team where the Jumbos came in second position with a time of 1:42.30, 34 hundredths of a second behind the MIT A team which finished with a time of 1:41.96.
Cronin has won numerous 100 and 200 yard backstroke events this season in addition to her freestyle and freestyle relay event victories. She has become a staple of the Tufts women's swimming and diving team, a reliable source of points for the team, and best of all, she is only a sophomore. She has helped lead the team to a 4-2 record this season and a 2nd place finish at the MIT invitational.
Like the men's team, the women have two more meets, at Wheaton with Bates and at the Middlebury Invitational, prior to the NESCAC Championships, to be held at Wesleyan.
