The women's swimming and diving team finished off its regular season with strong performances across the board at the Wheaton Invitational on Friday and Saturday, highlighted by the success of several relay squads.
The Jumbos competed against host Wheaton College, MIT and Clark University at Wheaton during the two-day event that, unlike their past meets, did not have official scoring. As a result, there were several relays and time trial races that are not usually included in normal meets.
Still, swimmers who won't be competing in the conference meet got one last chance to swim at full strength, while those who will participate at NESCACs tried for better qualifying times.
"We can only take a certain number of girls to the NESCAC meet [24], so [the Wheaton Invitational] was the last meet for half of the team, including a few seniors," senior co-captain Valerie Eacret said.
"Half of our team tapered for the meet, so it was their last chance to really do well and compete to improve personal bests."
Senior Hannah Will took advantage of this opportunity and put together an impressive performance that earned her NESCAC Performer of the Week honors. Will delivered a solid swim in the 100-yard breaststroke, finishing second with a time of 1:10.47, and swam the second leg for the runner up 400-yard medley relay team. Will also dropped 12 seconds from her previous personal record in the 200-yard breaststroke, a remarkable feat.
Jumbos relay teams earned top times in three of the meet's four relay races, and freshman Kathryn Coniglio swam the lead leg on all three of those first place teams. Sophomores Jenny Hu and Mia Greenwald also contributed to the victories, swimming the second and third legs for the 400-yard and 200-yard medley relay races, respectively. Senior Saheela Mehrotra was the anchor for the 400-yard medley team, while senior co-captain Courtney Adams swam the final leg of the 200-yard medley.
The third Jumbos relay squad to take first was the 400-yard freestyle team comprised of Coniglio, Adams, junior Lizz Grainger and freshman Allyson Fournier.
Tufts recorded the five fastest times for the 400-yard freestyle relay race and clinched the top two positions in the 200- and 400-yard medley relay races.
The Jumbos relay teams, especially the 200-yard freestyle squad, have been very successful in dual meets so far this season.
"The 200-yard freestyle relay is probably our fastest relay team," Greenwald said. "We have a lot of talented sprinters, including a couple of really fast freshmen swimmers."
There were many strong individual performers for the Jumbos as well. In an incredibly close finish, Adams and Grainger touched at exactly the same time, 2:00.11, in the 200-yard freestyle, tying for first.
Grainger also performed well in the 500-yard freestyle, placing second with a time of 5:21.67. Eacret earned the final first-place finish for the Jumbos in the 200-yard butterfly.
Sophomore diver Sami Bloom represented Tufts well in both diving events. In the one meter, she scored 434.10 points, and in the three meter she earned 439.85 — both marks were good for second place.
Mehrotra carried over her success from the 400-yard medley relay into the individual events, particularly the 100-yard freestyle, where she finished in second place with a time of 55.43 seconds. Sophomore Laura Burns, who helped her 400-yard medley relay team earn a top-five finish, was second in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:18.55 and finished third, just behind sophomore Ellen Gage, in the 200-yard breaststroke.
"Hopefully we can keep the ball rolling from the Wheaton invite. The girls did a great job and we want to continue that into NESCACs," Eacret said.
"It's a good confidence booster knowing the combination of training all year and tapering at the end of the year is going to help us at NESCACs," she added.
The conference championships will take place at Wesleyan on Feb. 17-19. Jumbos who excel there will have a chance to compete at the NCAA Championships hosted by IUPUI on March 21-24.
