This past week, four qualifying members of the women's swimming and diving team represented Tufts in the NCAA Div. III Championships hosted by Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). In a meet that spanned four days, from March 21-24, the Jumbos ultimately placed 28th as a team and earned several All-American honorable mentions despite a lack of national tournament experience.
"Overall, it was a great experience for us. It was really nice to see our three-and-a-half weeks of extra work pay off," senior co-captain Courtney Adams said. "It was really fun, and ultimately we swam really well."
"It was really humbling to be competing at such a fast meet with such talented swimmers," sophomore Jenny Hu added.
On day one of the meet, Adams, Hu, freshman Samantha Sliwinski and sophomore Mia Greenwald finished 14th in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:47.04 after placing 11th in the preliminary round. Each member of the foursome earned honorable mention All-American honors, and after the first day Jumbos were tied for 19th place with six points.
Day two was highlighted by another round of All-American honorable mentions as well as Greenwald's individual performance. Entering the morning preliminary round of the 100-yard butterfly as the 26th seed, Greenwald finished 16th in 56.47 seconds, good for a spot in the consolation finals and a personal best, surpassing her previous mark of 57.44 seconds and her school record of 56.95 seconds from last season. In the consolation finals, Greenwald bested herself again with a time of 55.33 seconds, earning ninth place overall, the victory in the consolation round and her second All-American honorable mention.
The foursome of Sliwinski, Hu, Greenwald and Adams then teamed up in the 400-yard medley relay. Despite entering as the 23rd seed, the Jumbos broke the previous school record of 3:55.22 by tying for 13th in the preliminary round with a time of 3:55.06, good for a spot in the consolation finals. In the next round, they set a school record again by placing 14th with a time of 3:54.60, marking the second All-American honorable mention for the team and the third for Greenwald.
In addition, the foursome participated in the 200-yard freestyle relay preliminaries earlier in the day, finishing 24th with a time of 1:38.68. Through day two, the Jumbos held onto 17th place as a team with 21 points.
The action slowed down for the Jumbos during the latter half of the meet. On Friday, Hu entered the 100-yard breaststroke, placing 27th in the preliminary round with a time of 1:07.20. Through the third day of competition, the Jumbos were tied for 21st.
The women completed their NCAA experience on Saturday, participating as a group in the 400-yard freestyle relay. The foursome finished with a time of 3:36.99, good for 25th place.
With 21 total points, the Jumbos finished the championship tournament with a final team ranking of 28th, tied with Clark University and the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. They earned an impressive total of nine All-American honorable mentions - three for Greenwald and two each for Sliwinski, Hu and Adams - despite all four members competing at NCAAs for the first time.
"This was the best season that I've been a part of in my four years, and I think [our performance] carries over to our whole team," Adams said.
While the Tufts men's squad has had participants at nationals for several consecutive years, this was the first time in recent seasons that the women's squad sent swimmers thanks to a successful showing at this year's NESCAC meet, which included honors for seven swimmers and a Coach of the Year Award for head coach Nancy Bigelow.
"I have so much confidence in our team and I know that we are only getting stronger," Hu said. "Hopefully, next year, we'll send even more girls."
