The women's swimming and diving team has been preparing for this weekend since the beginning of the season. The tune-up meets in the fall, the conditioning trip during winter break, the tapered practices over the past two weeks: It all leads up to the season-ending NESCAC Championships, which start on Friday at Williams.
It has been an up-and-down season for Tufts, with results ranging from heartbreaking losses against Conn. College and MIT to resounding victories in all three meets held in Hamilton Pool. But the Jumbos have enjoyed some of their best swims during the past few weeks and are certainly peaking at the right time.
"We really want all of the hard work we've done all season to pay off," Coach Nancy Bigelow said. "From what I've seen, I think we're going to do really, really well."
The team is realistic about its expectations and knows that keeping up with Williams and Amherst will be difficult. A third-place finish behind the two powerhouses will be tough, but the Jumbos consider it a reasonable goal.
In the past, Tufts has used results against rival Middlebury to predict its success at the NESCACs. The Jumbos beat the Panthers two years ago but finished behind them last season.
Hazing allegations, however, have marred the Panthers' season and led to complete suspensions of the team's upperclassmen —- leaving only the first-years to compete this weekend. With Middlebury out of contention, Conn. College will be Tufts' main rival for third place.
The Jumbos lost 150-142 in a fiercely competitive meet at Conn. College in November but believe that they have improved significantly since then.
"Even though Middlebury won't be there, I definitely still expect us to have a lot of close races," junior Valerie Eacret said. "The competition might not be as exciting as it has been in the past, but our goal is to finish third, and that's not going to be easy."
In order to meet those expectations, Tufts will need a strong effort from upperclassmen and first-years alike.
Senior tri-captain Megan Kono — who has excelled in long-distance freestyle races throughout the spring portion of the season — will look to continue her dominance of the 500-, 1000- and 1650-yard swims at NESCACs. Kono won the mile-long event two years ago but was unprepared last year after spending the fall semester abroad.
"We definitely expect Megan to do a great job for us, and there are a lot of other girls we're excited about as well," Eacret said. "We have really good swimmers in pretty much every stroke."
Eacret hopes that first-years Jenny Hu and Taylor Lentz will perform well in the breaststroke. First-year Mia Greenwald and sophomore Christine Garvey, in the butterfly and individual medley, respectively, are also expected to contribute to the team's success.
Tufts also got an unexpected boost in the backstroke when freshman Andrea Coniglio — who had been sidelined with mononucleosis — was cleared to swim this weekend.
Armed with talented swimmers in many events, Tufts is well prepared for the three-day event, where the ability to earn points in a variety of strokes and distances will be crucial. The Jumbos are confident that depth will pay off come Sunday and that they'll return home with a third-place finish.
"We're going to be in a tight race with Conn. College, and we're looking forward to that," Bigelow said. "It should be a really, really exciting weekend, and we're going to try as hard as we can to finish third."
