The Jumbos returned to Wheaton for a second straight weekend on Friday and Saturday, this time to finish off their regular season at the annual Wheaton Invitational.
Although the meet was not officially scored, the events against Clark, MIT and the hosts during the two-day meet were important to all of the swimmers and divers. For some, they were a chance to continue preparing for the NESCAC championships on Feb. 24-26. But for many of the Jumbos men, the meet marked their last appearance of the year, as only 24 selected swimmers can compete in the all-conference meet.
"Twenty-two of the spots have already been named," senior Reed Shimberg said after the meet. "And two will be selected based on their performances this [past] weekend."
Coach Adam Hoyt recently made his final decision on the last two members of the squad: senior Travis Grodkiewicz and freshman Kevin Kozikowski.
Grodkiewicz placed second in a 50-yard time trial and third in both the 200- and 400-yard individual medleys. Kozikowski won the 200-yard time trial, came in second in the 100-yard time trial and finished fourth in the 200-yard butterfly.
"They both swam very well at the meet," senior Andrew Vidikan said. "Coach made the decision on Sunday that they would score the most points at NESCACs, and that's how that spot was decided."
Just like they did when they won their tri-meet at Wheaton the previous week, the Jumbos managed to sweep several races on Friday. The 400-yard medley relay team of sophomores Craig Olynyk, Andrew Berman and Kyle Savidge and senior Matt Richmond won their race with a time of 3:40.11. The foursome of freshmen John Patterson, Michael Ren, Austin Wood and Kozikowski combined for second, just ahead of Vidikan and freshmen Sean Gunn, John Budrow and Will Parker, who placed third.
Another sweep came in the 1,000-yard feestyle race, with senior co-captain Joe McLoughlin, sophomore Matthew Weins and freshman Ian Dinwoodie outpacing the field for the top three spots. McLoughlin led the trio with a 10:06.29 finish.
The Jumbos wrapped up the action on Friday with the top two marks in the 400-yard freestyle relay. The team of Olynyk, Wood, Parker and freshman John Devine combined for a time of 3:13.32, edging out the second place team of senior Jay Farber, Berman, Savidge and senior co-captain Owen Rood, who finished in 3:14.43.
On Saturday morning, the team of Vidikan, Gunn, Parker and sophomore Eric Douglas were the runners-up in the 200-yard medley relay, clocking 1:40.26. In third was the foursome of Devine, Ren, Wood and senior Brandon Ching.
Later on Saturday, Vidikan captured the lone individual victory for Tufts with a win in the 200-yard backstroke in 1:59.35.
Vidikan is among the seniors who will not be competing at NESCACs.
"It was exciting," he said. "Some people may say that their last meet's sad, but I was excited, and the fact that it was my last meet didn't really sink in until the meet was over."
The invitational ended on a high note for Tufts, as the team of Rood, Devine, Parker and Berman took second in the 200-yard freestyle relay in a time of 1:28.24.
The Jumbos now have three weeks to prepare for the all-important NESCAC championships at Williams College on the weekend of February 24-26.
"I think right now the team is confident that they can all swim well at NESCACs," Vidikan said. "Over the next couple weeks they'll be focusing on the little things to really get their races fine tuned, so they can swim them as fast as possible at the conference championships."
