After impressive performances at the NESCAC Championships last weekend at Wesleyan University, three members of the women's swimming and diving team - senior diver Kendall Swett and freshmen swimmers Megan Kono and Maureen O'Neill - earned all-conference honors yesterday. The selections are awarded to the top three finishers in each event held at the conference championships.
Swett was a major reason why the Jumbos finished fifth for the second straight year, defending her titles in both the 1- and 3-meter diving events. In her first 3-meter performance, Swett broke the school, pool, NESCAC and meet records with a score of 528.50 before topping that in her second dive with a score of 536.85.
Swett was honored with NESCAC Performer of the Week honors on Dec. 4 after stellar performances at both Wellesley and MIT the week before. On Nov. 28, Swett won both the 1- and 3-meter diving events at Wellesley to help boost the team to a 161-133 win. A few days later at the MIT Invitational, the Tufts diver came in second in the 1-meter event but took first in the 3-meter, breaking her own school record in the process.
Kono had an amazing season of long-distance swimming in just her first year as a Jumbo. The LaGrange, Ill. native took second place in the 1,650-yard freestyle at NESCACs and set a new school record with a time nearly 15 seconds faster than the previous mark set by Maureen Monahan (LA '91) in 1988. She also took fourth in the 500 freestyle and won the consolation title in the 200 freestyle, swimming for a grand total of three NCAA B-cut times over the course of the weekend.
O'Neill was equally impressive in her first-ever NESCAC Championships appearance, making her mark in sprinting. O'Neill took third overall at NESCACs with a 50 freestyle time of 24.41 seconds. The Cherry Hill, N.J. native also put down a time of 24.29 seconds in the preliminaries, which was good enough to break her own school-record time and earn a National B-cut. Other noteworthy finishes for O'Neill include her two victories in the 50 and 100 freestyle sprints at the MIT meet on Jan. 26.
In addition, diving coach Brad Snodgrass took home Diving Coach of the Year honors for the second straight season to round out the Jumbos' list of postseason accolades.
