Coming off an emotional win over MIT on Senior Day last Saturday, Tufts suffered somewhat of a letdown against a strong Wheaton team that was celebrating its own seniors.
The Jumbos split their last tri-meet before tournament season begins, readily defeating Bates 175-120 while falling to the Lyons 167-131. The Lyons, now 16-of-23 in dual meets this season, came out firing on all cylinders, breaking records and dropping Tufts to 5-3 on the season.
"[Wheaton] hasn't lost a lot of dual meets all year," coach Nancy Bigelow said. "I knew that the Tufts-Wheaton event was going to be really close, and I think we did our best to race and push them like we did. Wheaton just had a little bit more."
Tufts excelled in the freestyle events, where freshman Megan Kono won both the 200 and the 500 with times of 1:58.31 and 5:12.95 respectively. The freshman led the effort in the 500-free, where Tufts had four of the top five finishers in one of its best events of the day. Kono's strong individual effort was the best of the day, but was matched by several other solid showings.
Another such event was the 1,000 yard-freestyle, where Tufts finished one-two. Sophomore Meredith Cronin took the top spot with a time of 10:58.15 and junior Kate Parkinson followed in 11:11.97. Cronin also came in second in the 200-yard backstroke, and her time of 2:14.51 set a personal best.
But Wheaton had the Jumbos beat in the sprinting events, where wins in all five 50- and 100-yard events and both relays made the difference in the outcome.
"They have a lot of really strong sprinters," senior tri-captain Renee Nicholas said. "As a result, their relays were really strong. They had more first, second and third place finishes than we did - just more depth and stronger sprinting."
In the 400-yard freestyle relay, Wheaton finished first with a time of 3:40.53, besting its year-old school record by three-tenths of a second. With 16 wins, the Lyons also broke their program record for most victories in a season, as the team eclipsed last year's mark of 14.
The Jumbos were far more confident facing Bates, a NESCAC rival that could not match Tufts' great depth.
"We knew that Bates was kind of a smaller team, though there were a lot of great races," Nicholas said. "Overall I think we had more swimmers, so we felt confident about winning that one. We knew were going to have a tough meet [with Wheaton] because they beat MIT and they have a lot of strong All-American swimmers. I don't think we could have asked for more."
Nicholas had a very good day in the tri-meet, winning the 400-yard individual medley (IM) with a time of 4:49.53 and placing second in the 100-yard backstroke.
One notable member missing from the team was diver Kendall Swett, who had to miss the meet due to a family obligation. Still, the points from Swett would not have been enough to give the team an edge over Wheaton.
"In a sport like swimming, you can't be at your peak every time," Bigelow said. "I can't stress it enough - we have swam three weeks in a row against very, very tough competition, so it's been like bang-bang-bang. Considering that, I think our women have done a great job handling it."
With the finish of the dual-meet season, the Jumbos will head toward the tournament season after some strong performances.
"I think our kids have really turned a corner," Bigelow said. "They're starting to feel better about themselves and see their hard work pay off."
This weekend, the Jumbos will take part in the Middlebury Invitational against familiar opponents, including Middlebury, Williams, MIT, Wheaton and Saint Michael's. Bigelow sees her team only getting better at the most important time of the season.
"We're definitely on the right track to swim well at the end of the year," she said. "The best improvements are still to come."
