The women's swimming and diving team, which parted for winter break with an unblemished 3-0 record, saw that streak continue this weekend. In back-to-back home meets, the team defeated Wesleyan on Saturday, 135-98, and Trinity on Sunday, 119-93, boosting its record to 5-0.
Throughout the season, freshmen have scored a number of first-place points for the team, and this weekend was no exception. The 400-yard medley relay was the first event and set the pace for the Jumbos. Composed of freshmen Roxanne Kritzer, Katharine Ferguson, Sarah Ferranti, and anchor Susan Ascoli, the Tufts team won with a time of 4:20.46. The foursome beat the second place Trinity team by six seconds.
Ferguson, Ascoli, and Ferranti also accomplished individual first place finishes in the 100 breaststroke, the 100 butterfly, and the 200 freestyle, respectively.
Against Wesleyan, Ascoli grabbed first place finishes in the 50 and 100 freestyle (26.57, 57.17) and Ferguson in the 200 breaststroke (2:33.58). Freshman Katelyn Stevens snatched a first place finish of her own against Trinity in the 50 freestyle to boost Tufts' performance in the sprints.
Another freshman, Kathryn Sweeney, excelled in the distance swims with victories in the 1000 freestyle (11:06.93) against Trinity and in the 500 freestyle (5:27.59) against Wesleyan.
The weekend was not only notable for the freshmen, however. Sophomore Mika Sumiyoshi took first place finishes in the 400 IM against Trinity (4:42.58) and in the 200 IM (2:14.95) and the 200 back (2:14.29) against Wesleyan. Sophomore diver Beth Wecksell scored significant points for the team when she took first place in the one meter against Trinity with a score of 224.45, followed closely by teammate junior Angela Russo with a score of 220.5. Against Wesleyan, Wecksell took second in the one meter (237.59). She then overwhelmed the competition in the three-meter, winning with a score of 244.28. The second place finisher, freshman Katie Sloan of Wesleyan, scored 182.09 points.
The weekend success came on the heels of a rigorous winter training trip. For the last two weeks of break, the team trained in Barbados - two practices a day, totaling four hours in the water and a half-hour of dry land practices.
"We grew together as a team," senior tri-captain Joan Vollero said. "There was no television in the hotel so that meant a lot of talking time. It helped to make the team more cohesive. We worked hard and that has put us in the mindset to come back to school ready to work just as hard, even though we had expected to beat Wesleyan and Trinity."
Coach Nancy Bigelow also put a practical spin on the weekend's success. "Based on the times and the size of the teams, we had a good idea going into the weekend that we had a reasonably fair shot of beating Trinity and Wesleyan," she said. "That was fortunate for us because we were coming off of two weeks of hard training. It was nice to not have to be at peak performance."
For Bigelow, going into a meet with minimal pressure provides an opportunity for her to shuffle swimmers around and find new strengths. Freshman Erica Wietz, for example, put in a lot of yards over the weekend - five different events over two days. She took second place in the 400 IM (4:48.07) and first place in the 500 freestyle (5:24.20) against Trinity. Against Wesleyan, she took first place in the 200 butterfly (2:18.08), and second place in the 200 freestyle (2:03.16) and 200 IM (2:16.28).
Not only did the Jumbos benefit from this flexibility, they were also able to work on some racing areas that needed particular strengthening. Most important for the team was working on the negative split - finishing the latter half of the race harder than the first. The team met that goal on occasions this weekend, but will need to perpetuate it throughout the season.
"The rest of the season is going to be extremely difficult," Bigelow said. "We have our work cut out for us."
Despite the comfort of sitting on an undefeated record, Bigelow knows the honeymoon is about to end. Next up for Tufts is a meet at Bates this Saturday. The Bobcats will provide the first real challenge for the Jumbos, other than an early-season match against Wellesley.
Bates boasts a 6-2 record so far on the season, including a win over Trinity. Tufts has lost to Bates each of the last two seasons, including last year's 156-144 loss.
"We have difficulty coming up," Vollero said. "But I think we are ready to take these teams on and hopefully beat them."
Rounding off the rest of the season for the Brown and Blue are meets against MIT, Brandeis, and Williams, all of which have given Tufts trouble in the past.
"We have to continue to work hard and maintain a positive attitude," Bigelow said. "As a team right now we are very tired, both mentally and physically. It is important right now to stay focused and overcome the sicknesses that come with the time of year."
Regardless, the Jumbos have not walked into this portion of the season undefeated in recent memory. Last year, the squad dropped an early match to Wesleyan as it headed into the Bates meet. The swimmers, of course, are hoping the early success is a sign of things to come.
"I knew we were good, but I didn't realize we were this good," Wecksell said. "Now I know, and I am proud of the team."
@s: Women head into Bates meet undefeated
