Before Saturday, a victory over NESCAC foe Middlebury had proven elusive for the 10 seniors on the women's swimming and diving team. They didn't let that fact loom over their final year for long, however, as the group, along with the rest of the squad, notched a convincing 175-123 victory over the Panthers.
Tufts' statement victory at the tri-meet in New London, Conn., was not the only highlight of the weekend, as the Jumbos also recorded a 175-120 victory over host Conn. College on Saturday, in addition to a 169.5-114.5 victory over the Brandeis Judges Sunday. Still, it was undoubtedly the defeat of the Panthers that stands out most from this weekend's 3-0 performance.
"Beating Middlebury was unbelievable," coach Nancy Bigelow said. "The only way to describe it was elation. I think we secretly had the belief that we could do it, but no one really verbalized it. Never in my wildest dreams would I have expected to beat Middlebury."
"All of the seniors were so flabbergasted after we saw we had beaten Middlebury," senior tri-captain Liz Frenette said. "We secured the win late, but it was so surprising when we found out. We went in thinking it would be exciting to swim against really fast girls, but we actually went out and won."
Junior and returning All-American diver Lindsay Gardel and sophomore Megan Kono led the Jumbos as dual winners on the afternoon. Kono touched first in both the 200 and 500 freestyle, while Gardel took the 1- and 3-meter diving events. Senior tri-captain Katie Swett tacked on a victory in the 200 breaststroke (2:33.03).
While upperclassmen such as Gardel and Kono provided the foundation for the Jumbos' historic victory, it was the freshmen who supplied the spark needed to catapult Tufts late in the meet.
First-year Katie Russell earned the first victory of the new season for the Jumbos in the 1,650-yard freestyle, touching the wall in 10:57.60. Meanwhile, classmate Valerie Eacret won the 100-yard butterfly in 1:00.51, while the relay team of freshmen Courtney Adams, Saheela Mehrotra and Paulia Ziolek and sophomore Maureen O'Neill capped the meet off with a 1:41.20 win in the 200-yard freestyle relay. O'Neill, Tufts' record-holder in the 50-yard freestyle, won the race in 25.07 seconds.
The Jumbos captured first place in 10 of the first 13 events on Sunday, dropping three to Brandeis freshman Angela Chui, who recently qualified for NCAA Championships and was named UAA Athlete of the Week. Aside from Chui's wins, brown and blue swimmers dominated the final tallies.
Kono, fresh off a season in which she finished 19th in the NCAA Championship meet in the 1,650-yard freestyle, took first in the event, as well as in the 200-yard backstroke. In the freestyle event, the sophomore kicked off her 2008 campaign in style, finishing more than a minute ahead of the closest competitor.
Swett, cousin of NCAA champion diver Kendall Swett (LA '08), continued the family legacy in the Tufts pool by placing first in both the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke. In the 200-yard breast, Swett touched the wall nearly 10 seconds ahead of the second-place swimmer, finishing in 2:33.80, though she barely out-touched Brandeis junior Hollis Viray in the 100, winning by 17 hundredths of a second.
Other winners for Tufts on Sunday included Gardel, who earned first place in both diving events.
The most telling statistic in the dual meet with Brandeis was the emergence of freshman swimmers for Tufts. The class of 2012 comprises nearly half of the roster, and it came up in a big way against the Judges, hauling in four first-place finishes.
"The freshmen really stepped up above and beyond this weekend," Frenette said. "Annie [Doisneau], Valerie [Eacret] and Katie [Russell] all did so well for us, just to name a few."
The 400-yard medley relay team of O'Neill and freshmen Eacret, Doisneau and Ziolek finished first in the opening event against Brandeis, touching the wall in 4:14.91. Freshman Kelly Moriarty followed suit two events later, taking first in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:04.86 to beat out fellow freshman Hannah Henderson by 1.4 seconds.
Adams continued the strong representation from the first years, out-touching Ziolek in the 50-yard freestyle by 0.28 seconds. Russell took first place in the 500-yard freestyle, finishing in 5:24.26, while Eacret rounded out Tufts' winners in the 100-yard butterfly.
"The freshmen did awesome this weekend, especially considering the sickness on the team," said senior tri-captain Kayla Burke, referring to the swimmers' recent bouts of mono, bronchitis and pneumonia. "We as upperclassmen couldn't have really asked for anything more from them."
With the win over Middlebury, Tufts has secured a prime position to move up the NESCAC ranks. The Panthers usually hold off the Jumbos, as Tufts has historically found itself in a battle for fourth place with Conn. College and Colby. But if this weekend's meets are any indication, the Jumbos are ready to trash tradition and move on to greener pastures.
"This was just an amazing weekend for us," Bigelow said. "The great competition across the board really helped us perform well. We swam our best on the right day on Saturday."
"Winning against Middlebury really gives us a great confidence boost," Frenette said. "It can propel us forward at the rate we're going. It's really great to see how strong we're going this early in the season."
If the Jumbos are to achieve top-three status in the NESCAC, they will have to do it away from home. Aside from a Dec. 3 meet against Wellesley, the Jumbos do not have another home meet for the rest of the season. Once more, a Jan. 17 matchup with heavyweight Williams could prove to be the deciding meet for Tufts in the conference.
"With all the seniors stepping up making us work hard in practice, I think it is a good sign of things to come," Bigelow said. "This team is coming together a lot quicker than in previous years. I have a great feeling about this season."
"We have lots of motivation now [after beating Middlebury] and just have to keep the ball rolling," Burke said. "With Thanksgiving break coming up soon, it's been such a long and exhausting weekend that we're excited to have a little rest."
