On the heels of solid performances at the NESCAC Championship meet last weekend at Middlebury, sophomore diver Rob Matera and freshman swimmer Chris Vorlicek earned spots on the 2008 All-NESCAC team.
Athletes who finished in the top three in an event at the meet, either individually or as part of relay teams, were rewarded with the honor. Matera earned his second consecutive appearance on the all-conference team, taking second in the 3-meter dive with a score of 467.70 points and narrowly missing qualifying in the 1-meter with a fourth-place effort worth 421.35 points. The sophomore diver made the same splash as he did last year, also taking second in the 3-meter dive in 2007.
Vorlicek hustled to a second-place finish of his own in the 400 individual medley with a time of 4:08.21, a school record, marking the best finish by a Tufts swimmer at the meet. The time was also an NCAA B-cut qualifier and a hefty 1.5-second improvement on his time in preliminaries.
The NESCAC had recognized Vorlicek earlier this season after a standout performance Jan. 26 against MIT, naming the freshman swimmer Performer of the Week. Vorlicek was the first Jumbo to claim the honor after the conference instituted it this year in swimming and diving.
Despite receiving top-three finishes from only Matera and Vorlicek this weekend, Tufts captured second place at the Championships ahead of teams with more All-NESCAC members including Amherst and Middlebury.
As for the All-NESCAC team as a whole, Williams ended up the big winner with 13 swimmers across 22 events. Amherst and Middlebury each chipped in with nine athletes of their own, though the Panthers tallied in 18 events while the Lord Jeffs had competitors in 17 events make the cut.
