After losing in its first NESCAC tri-meet of the season to Connecticut College and Middlebury College, the Tufts women's swimming and diving team rebounded by defeating Wellesley College 166-123, evening its record at 2-2.
"We were really tired at the Middlebury and Connecticut College meet because we had the Colorado College meet the night before and a long bus ride," senior tri-captain and All-American Lyndsey York said. "We kept practicing and we had a long rest over Thanksgiving break, and we were excited to get in the pool and race against Wellesley."
The Jumbos bounced back in impressive fashion, dominating the diving events and seeing some stellar individual performances across the board. Wellesley did not put up too much of a fight, as Tufts won 14 of 16 events. Sophomores Valerie Eacret, Katie Russell and Paulina Ziolek each won two events to lead the Jumbos.
Sophomore Kelly Moriarty and freshman Kathryn Sullivan joined Eacret and Ziolek in the 200-yard medley relay, which set the tone for the Jumbos as they bested Wellesley by six hundreths of a second in a great race to open the meet.
"Wellesley wasn't as strong as us, so it was really important that we tried our hardest and raced against ourselves," York said.
Russell was dominant in the distance events, winning the 1000-yard freestyle and the 500-yard freestyle. Eacret's two victories came in the 200-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly, while Ziolek delivered wins in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke events.
In the backstroke events, Tufts benefited from great performances by sophomore Courtney Adams, who won the 100-yard event, and senior tri-captain Meredith Cronin, who won the 200-yard backstroke.
Freshman Christine Garvey also contributed a first-place finish for the Jumbos, coming out on top in the 200-yard butterfly.
The only blip in the otherwise stellar Tufts performance was the team's inability to win any of the sprint events. Wellesley junior Dana Dutton won the 100-yard freestyle, narrowly out-reaching Tufts sophomore Annie Doisneau by a half a second, while fifth-year senior Savannah Johnson won the 50-yard freestyle for the Blue.
"We are trying to look forward," said York. "We are getting Maureen O'Neill back soon and we have our training trip over Christmas break and we'll be ready to compete in the second half of the season."
With the victory wrapped up, Tufts continued to pile up first place finishes. Adams finished first in the 200-individual medley, and earned the best time in the 400-yard freestyle event, in which Ziolek, Eacret and Cronin also competed.
In the diving events, Gardel won the three-meter event, while freshman Noa Palmon earned an unexpected top score in the one-meter event, narrowly beating Gardel.
"It was great to see Lindsay and Noa do so well at the meet," sophomore diver Rachel Lew said. "With so many of the stronger members of our team being seniors, it's exciting that we have such an awesome new talent on our team to carry us forward through the upcoming seasons."
This weekend should be a big test for the Jumbos, as they will compete in the two-day MIT invitational. The Jumbos will be looking to build on past success at the MIT meet.
"The Wellesley meet was a great warm-up for the MIT invitational on Friday and Saturday," Lew said. "Hopefully, we will be able to keep our energy up and dominate this weekend."
Last year, the Jumbos finished second in a seven-team field, which included NESCAC rivals Bowdoin and Colby. They will be looking to duplicate that performance, but hopefully with a better result.
"We are really looking forward to the MIT invitational," York said. "They have a great pool, and we have a lot of experience swimming there, so we are excited to put in some fast times."
