The Jumbos went to the NESCAC Swimming and Diving Championships at Wesleyan with high hopes this past weekend, and they were not disappointed. Tufts posted 11 school records and seven national B-cut times,while earning third place overall.
Williams, the overwhelming favorite entering the meet, claimed its 12th straight NESCAC crown with a score of 1,826 points. Amherst, which trailed Tufts until the third and final day of the meet, pulled ahead and finished with 1,460.5 points. Tufts accumulated enough points on Sunday to edge Middlebury for third place. The team's score of 1,261.5 points was its highest total in the 12-year history of the meet.
"I think the team's performance as a whole was the best performance we've had at NESCACs in the four years I've been here," senior co-captain Valerie Eacret said. "We are usually fighting for third place — we hadn't really ever been in a place where we could have placed ahead of Amherst for second. This year, we held on to second place for the first two days of the meet, which was unprecedented for our team."
Sophomore Maggie Rosenbaum of Hamilton College earned Swimmer of the Meet honors, sweeping all three backstroke events for the second straight year. McKenzie Murdoch of Williams was named Diver of the Meet, a well-deserved honor for the sophomore who claimed the 1-meter and 3-meter titles.
Sophomore Jenny Hu was one of the main contributors to the Jumbos' success. In both the 50- and 100-yard breaststroke races, Hu placed second, swam national B-cut times and set school records. Her time of 1:05.78 in the 100-yard breaststroke surpassed her own previous school record, and in the 50-yard breaststroke, Hu broke a record that had stood for five years.
Sophomore Mia Greenwald, one of the favorites heading into the meet in the butterfly events, also performed very well. Greenwald finished fourth in the 100-yard butterfly, making the national B cut in the process.
The Jumbos were well represented in the 50-yard butterfly, with Greenwald and Eacret both putting up excellent times. Greenwald's preliminary time of 25.50 broke her previous school record by a quarter of a second. She finished third in the final heat, and Eacret — who had qualified for the finals with the eighth-fastest preliminary time — finished just behind Greenwald in fourth place.
Eacret sang the praises of the freshman swimmers, who did not let their nerves get to them in their first NESCAC championship meet.
"The freshmen all stepped up this weekend in their first collegiate championship meet," Eacret said. "Sam Sliwinski was of course a standout and broke school records. Amanda Wachenfeld had a great 500 [freestyle], and Kathryn Coniglio and Scarlett Hao also had great performances this weekend."
Sliwinski, who has been phenomenal for the Jumbos all season in the freestyle and backstroke events, broke a four year-old school record in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 24.13. She swam the 100-yard backstroke as well; her time of 59.36 set a new school record and was good for seventh in the finals.
Senior co-captain Courtney Adams tied Tufts' eight year-old 100-yard freestyle record with a time of 52.96. She finished sixth in the finals.
Several other Jumbos enjoyed success in the freestyle events. Wachenfeld finished fifth in the 1,000-yard freestyle, and junior Christine Garvey notched a fifth-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle.
Garvey and Wachenfeld also shared success in the 400-yard individual medley race. In the finals, Garvey finished in 4:33.12, good for fifth place, and Wachenfeld touched the wall in 4:34.21 for sixth. Both times qualified for the national B cuts.
Sophomore Ellen Gage had a very strong preliminary swim in the 50-yard breaststroke, recording the third-best qualifying time before placing seventh in the finals. Gage was even better in the 100-yard breaststroke, touching at 1:06.90 to earn fifth place.
The Jumbos accrued many of their points in the diving events. The duo of senior Kelly Flanagan and sophomore Sami Bloom, which has been a source of points for the Jumbos all season, performed very well at NESCACs. Bloom placed fifth in both the 1-meter and 3-meter events, while Flanagan rounded out the top eight in the 1-meter dive and finished one spot behind Bloom in the 3-meter.
Relays highlighted the Jumbos' weekend at NESCACs. The team of Adams, Sliwinski, senior PaulinaZiolek and Coniglio took second in the 200-yard freestyle relay, and their time of 1:36 in the finals beat the school record they had set just days earlier in the preliminary race.
The 400-yard relay team of Adams, junior Lizz Grainger, Garvey and Sliwinski recorded a school record with a time of 3:32.91, placing fifth in the finals. The 400-yard medley relay team — led by Sliwinski, continued by Gage and Greenwald and anchored by Coniglio — set the new school mark at 3:55.22 and finished fifth in the finals.
Knowing that many of the seniors were swimming for the last time in their Tufts career provided an extra push for the team.
"Swimming with seniors on relays is a huge motivator for me," Hu said. "I want to swim as fast as I can for them, because it's their last chance. [Adams] and I have been on almost every championship relay together in my Tufts swimming career, and she inspires me so much. This year's senior girls are a really special group of girls, and losing their leadership will be really hard for the whole team."
Following her team's stellar performance, coach Nancy Bigelow was named Coach of the Meet for the second time in her career.
"[Coach Bigelow] has been so supportive, always wanting the best for our team," Hu said. "I think it's great that she and the rest of the coaching staff were recognized for all their work and dedication to the team."
Six Tufts swimmers were named to the NESCAC All-Conference Team for 2012, which is comprised of the top three finishers in each event at the championship meet. Adams earned All-NESCAC recognition for the third time; Greenwald and Hu each received their second All-Conference honors; and Sliwinski, Coniglio and Ziolek were named to the team for the first time.
Those swimmers who qualified for the national B cuts will now await the results from the rest of the Div. III conference meets to see if their times are good enough to qualify for the NCAA Championships in Indianapolis from March 21-24.
