The men's swimming and diving team dominated Wheaton College on Saturday 188-105 in Hamilton Pool for its last home meet of the season.
The victory was especially meaningful for the team's 11 seniors, who competed in front of friends and family and were recognized during the meet in an informal ceremony.
"I thought it was a great atmosphere, as always," senior quad-captain Brian Canter said. "We don't get too many chances to have home meets, and I thought it was especially nice for all the parents and the fans. There was a lot of energy and noise, and it really was a nice culmination of four years swimming at Tufts and at that pool."
Tufts won 15 out of 16 events and had four 1-2-3 finishes, three of which came in the first three afternoon races. Sophomore Brian Marko and seniors Eddie Mayerson, Zed Debbaut and quad-captain Joe Lessard kicked things off with a first-place finish in the 400-yard medley relay. Next, freshmen Christian Jones and Matthew Wiens and junior Lou Tamposi took the top three spots, respectively, in the 1000-yard freestyle. Finally, in the 200-yard freestyle, Lessard earned his second win of the day, while freshman Drew Berman and junior Joe McLoughlin grabbed second and third.
The Jumbos' freshman talent was on display in their final 1-2-3 event, the 100-yard butterfly, won by freshman Austin Wood with classmates Andrew Turk and Kyle Savidge right behind him. Savidge also won the 100-yard backstroke.
Senior quad-captain Gordy Jenkins showed his sprinting prowess with first-place finishes in both the 50-yard breaststroke and 50-yard freestyle. Jenkins also won the 100-yard individual medley, edging out Lessard and senior Dave Meyer.
Even senior Trevor Stack, a diver, got in on the swimming fun, although he was tagged with a disqualification for swimming the wrong stroke.
In the 200-yard medley relay, the last event of the day, the Jumbos raced one team of freshmen, one of sophomores and one of juniors. The junior powerhouse squad, composed of Brandon Ching, EJ Testa, Peter Debbaut and Owen Rood, earned the top spot, with the freshmen squad coming in second.
In individual events, Ching also won the 50-yard butterfly, while Testa won the 50-yard backstroke. Rood also raced in the 500-yard freestyle, which junior Alex Strittmatter won. Matthew Richmond rounded out the juniors' successful meet with a victory in the 100-yard breaststroke.
Continuing his recent run of success, freshman Johann Schmidt won the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events.
"Everyone stepped up, and people swam events they usually don't swim," Jenkins said. "It really shows how multifaceted we are and how much depth we have as a team. We can mix people around and still have a lot of success."
While the women's team honored its seniors before the meet, the men were recognized toward the end of the meet. As the 11 names were announced, each senior ran through a tunnel of his teammates and received an onslaught of congratulatory slaps.
"I really tried to realize this year just how much the senior class has been through together and how close we really are," Jenkins said. "It's a really strong class, with a lot of big personalities, and leadership coming from everywhere — not just the captains, but everyone steps up and leads this team."
Canter agreed that the team was composed of a unique batch of talent and personality.
"I think this class definitely had everything you would want in a group of seniors," Canter said. "We had very different personalities, different strengths, but we had great chemistry from being and living and swimming with each other for the past three years. We were able to have a great presence and put the team in a great direction. I think I'll have 10 other best friends for the rest of my life."
This week, half the team will rest up in preparation for next weekend's Wheaton Invitational, while the other half will begin training for the NESCAC Championships, which begin on Feb. 25.
