The men's swimming and diving team performed exceptionally at the NESCAC conference championships this weekend, finishing fourth overall and setting six school records in the process. The meet, hosted by Bowdoin, lasted three days, from Feb. 21 through Feb. 23 and was won by Williams for the 12th consecutive year. Tufts totaled 1,147 points, finishing behind Williams, Amherst, and Connecticut College.
"It was an amazing meet for all of the boys, and we had some fantastic swims," senior tri-captain Johann Schmidt said. "Being a captain has made it fun to watch the other boys improve throughout the season from practices and dual-meets, and to see swimmers [achieve] season and lifetime bests is fantastic."
The Jumbos got off to a great start on the first day of competition, reaching the finals in seven events and setting three school records. That performance set the tone for the rest of the weekend, which was highlighted by strong performances from Tufts divers, Schmidt and freshman Matt Rohrer. Competing in the final NESCAC championship meet of his stellar career, Schmidt won the competition's one-meter dive for the third time in his career with a personal best in the event. The senior tri-captain's final score of 578.15 set a pool, school, NESCAC and conference championship meet record, helping him earn Diver of the Meet honors. Rohrer was tremendous in his first conference meet, coming in third with a score of 528.90 in the one-meter and winning the three-meter with a score of 533.70, just edging Schmidt's score of 524.25.
Diving coach Brad Snodgrass was duly impressed with his two divers, who are hoping to qualify for NCAA championships this weekend at the Zone Regional Meet at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
"It was a thrill to see both Johann and Matt perform so well this past weekend," Snodgrass said. "They have both worked very hard this year and I had hoped they'd do well, but they have both exceeded my expectations. I can't say enough about Johann's career and Matt was new to three-meter this year, so for him to win the event with dives he just learned in the past few months is phenomenal. [His] future is very bright."
Tufts established new school records on the swimming side as well. Freshman William Metcalfe swam a 1:51.63 in the preliminaries for the 200 individual medley, shattering the five-year old school record by nearly three and a half seconds. He went on to top himself in the final with a time of 1:51.53, which was good enough for third place and a qualification for nationals. Sophomore Michael Winget broke the school's 50 backstroke record with a time of 23.52 in the preliminaries.
Metcalfe and Winget were outstanding again on Saturday, breaking one more school record apiece. The former set another school record in the 100 yard butterfly and established a national B cut with his time of 49.49.
In the 100 backstroke preliminaries Winget toppled his own record that he set last year as a freshman, improving his time from 50.63 to 50.49. For good measure, he set his third school record of the weekend on Sunday by eclipsing his mark in the 200 backstroke.
Metcalfe finished his excellent weekend with another national B cut time on Sunday in the 200 butterfly with a time of 1:51.21, enough for fourth in the event. The team as a whole dominated the event, as Metcalfe was one of five Jumbos in the top 16, and one of four to post a National B cut time in the event.
Sophomore Anthony Debenedetto scored his cut time in the preliminaries of the event with a time of 1:51.26 before finishing fifth with a time of1:51.42. Freshman Gus Simms was the other top-10 finisher for Tufts, as he placed eighth with a time of 1:53.25. Similar to Debenedetto, Simms had his best time in the preliminaries, where he swam a 1:52.41.
While the season is over for most of the Jumbos, several will be competing in the NCAA Championships in Indianapolis over spring break.
