Coming off an impressive second-place finish at last weekend's MIT Invitational, the men's swimming and diving team will travel to Fort Lauderdale over winter break to continue its training regimen. Over the course of the 12-day trip to Florida, the team hopes to develop group cohesion and endurance, in addition to a dash of historical perspective by spending a few hours at the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
"The Fort Lauderdale trip is when we get the bulk of our training done for the season, in terms of working out, endurance and stroke work," senior quad-captain Matt Salzberg said. "But it's also where we develop a personality as a team. It's really fun, being down there with 40 awesome guys."
The Jumbos will have over a month off before their next meet, which takes place on Jan. 16 against Wesleyan and Williams in Middletown, Conn. The team will need every last bit of endurance and camaraderie it can muster to challenge the Ephs, who have won seven out of the last eight NESCAC Championships, including last year when they finished ahead of the second-place Jumbos.
The Ephs are the benchmark in the NESCAC, the team to beat, and it will take a mighty effort from the Jumbos to steal the crown and bring it back to Medford once Tufts returns to Massachusetts.
"We need to come out strong in the meet on Jan. 16," senior quad-captain Rob Delean said. "Williams is our big competition in conference. We need to show discipline [over the next month] and know that even though we aren't racing, everyone else is training hard. We need to come out prepared and excited to take a run at them."
