The women’s swimming and diving team, fresh off a training trip to Puerto Rico, won its first meet of the season on Sunday, edging Wesleyan 176-115 at home.
“We’re in much better shape than we were in the fall semester, so we tend to surprise ourselves with the times we are able to do,” said senior tri-captain Kathryn Coniglio, winner of the 100-yard freestyle and runner-up in the 200 freestyle. “It’s always physically challenging to get up and race two days in a row, but the team really stepped it up in a big way. From the very first relay, you could tell people were itching to win.”
Tufts improved its dual meet record to 1-3 by winning 10 events, with first-year Kesley Gallagher and sophomore Amanda Gottschalk each winning two. Gallagher and classmate Ali Dorneo finished first and second, respectively, in both the 100- and 200-yard backstroke. Gottschalk won the 200-yard breaststroke and individual medley, narrowly beating out her teammates in both events. First-year Anna Kimura, who finished third in the 100 back and second in the 200 IM, rounded out her impressive performance with a 1:01.27 victory in the 100-yard butterfly.
The Jumbos also received strong efforts from juniors Maddie Golison and Sarah Mahoney. Golison finished first in the 200-yard butterfly and second in the 100 butterfly, while Mahoney won the 1,000 yard freestyle with ease. Sophomore Sophia Lin won the 50-yard freestyle by an eyelash, nudging out Wesleyan sophomore Serena Zalkowitz by a hundredth of a second. Off the boards, sophomore diver Kylie Reiman had a great day, winning the three-meter event with a score of 214.42 and falling 3.82 points shy of Wesleyan junior Carly Feinman in the one-meter.
“This weekend, we began to see how all our hard work on the training trip has paid off,” said senior tri-captain Amanda Wachenfeld. “Our times may not have been where we wanted them to be but we were able to compete well and beat our opponents, especially at the Wesleyan meet. Our goal for the weekend was to win that meet, as it was our first meet against a NESCAC team.”
Tufts was unable to take both meets over the weekend; it was bested by a strong MIT team the previous day — Senior Day — losing 219. No. 7 MIT dominated the meet with first place finishes across the board, highlighted by first-year Veronika Jedryka setting a pool record by swimming the 100-yard backstroke in 59.29 seconds.
Though the Jumbos did not achieve the results they were looking for, coach Nancy Bigelow remained extremely proud of her team.
“Senior Day is always a bittersweet one,” she said. “We spend a lot of time with our athletes and develop very special bonds with them. It is always hard to see them finish their careers at Tufts, and especially this group, as they all love to swim and love representing Tufts. They all look forward to this special day and our juniors did a super job of making it a special one for them.”
The Jumbos notched 10 third-place finishes, including two apiece by Coniglio and Wachenfeld. Coniglio came in third in the 200 and 100 freestyle in addition to swimming both the 200 medley and freestyle relays. Wachenfeld finished third in both of those events as well.
Mahoney led Tufts with a pair of runner-up showings in the 1,000 and 500 freestyle, finishing behind MIT sophomore Emmie Ryan in both events. Reiman also earned two second place finishes in both the one-meter and three-meter events, scoring 237.45 and 255.60 points, respectively.
The defeat put a damper on what was an otherwise exciting day for the women’s swimming and diving program. Both MIT and Tufts seniors were saluted before the meet in a ceremony performed by the junior class. The Jumbos honored five seniors–Coniglio, Wachenfeld, Keri Golembeski, Scarlett Hao and Emily Pascal–for their four years of commitment and dedication to the program.
“The juniors did a fantastic job of making our Senior Day special, and it was awesome to be able to celebrate it with friends, teammates, family and alumni who came to watch,” Hao said. “Our freshman class started out with around 12 women, and it was great to finish it out with those that have been with us throughout the four years. Our class has been through recurring injuries and time spent abroad, but despite that we were able to round out a successful four years.”
Tufts will host its last home meet of the season tomorrow against No. 24 Wellesley College before traveling to Wheaton College next Saturday.
Tufts splits weekend meets
