The women's swimming and diving team recovered in a hurry.
After starting their weekend with a 179-121 loss to NESCAC rival Conn. College - not the way they wanted to kick off their league schedule - the Jumbos got themselves back on track with a 156-138 victory over Trinity, breaking three pool records and already qualifying a diver for Nationals.
Tufts' victory on Sunday was much more decisive than the score indicates, as the Jumbos stopped scoring once victory was assured, a "mercy rule" in NESCAC swimming.
"I think we did a really good job coming back on Sunday after having a tough day on Saturday," senior tri-captain Jess Bollinger said. "It's really important to get out there and practice racing, but we've only been swimming for two weeks, so you can't really just look at the times."
With just one meet under their belts, the Jumbos already started breaking records on Sunday. The first busted record came from the 400-yard IM relay team, composed of freshman Meredith Cronin, senior tri-captain Chloe Young-Hyman, junior Tia Bassano and senior Eva Johnson, which swam a 4:14.05 and defeated Trinity by over eight seconds.
The 200-yard freestyle team also came through in a big way, with Young-Hyman, Johnson, freshman Emily Japlon, and Bassano swimming the race in 1:43.73, nearly three seconds ahead of their nearest competitors.
Young-Hyman, the Jumbos' Nationals-tested swimmer after an appearance in the 2005 NCAA Div. III Championships, was at the center of all of the action on Sunday, also breaking a pool record individually in the 50-yard breaststroke (32.10).
Tufts' newly resurgent diving squad compiled an impressive day, as it placed three members in the top four of the 1-meter dive and grabbed the top three slots in the 3-meter dive. Junior Kendall Swett wasted no time in qualifying for Nationals in both the 1-meter and 3-meter dives, hitting the national qualifying standards in both meets this weekend. She won both events with scores of 257.7 and 256.8, respectively. Freshmen Kelsey Bell, Kara Lindquist and Lindsay Gardell followed closely on her heels.
Diving has relatively few chances to score points for a team in regular-season dual meets, negating some of Swett's Nationals-proven dominance on the board.
"It is just too bad that there are only two diving, [as opposed] to the 14 swimming events in a dual meet," coach Nancy Bigelow said. "The divers will be very important at the NESCAC championship meet, where we could score close to 100 points on each board, which is very hard to do."
On Saturday, the Jumbos hosted Conn. College in a meet that had far fewer positive notes. The Camels won 11 of 16 events outright, and from the outset, there were few events in which Tufts could gain an advantage.
"Conn. is very strong this year, and I knew this was going to be a tough meet for us," Bigelow said. "It will be interesting to see how close we will come to them at the NESCAC [Championships], when hopefully we will be at full strength."
Tufts lost both relays, however. The 200-yard IM, which turned in a time of 1:55.24 and the 400-yard freestyle, which finished in 3:45.33.
Bollinger was a bright spot individually, as she recorded victories in the 500-yard freestyle (5:25.59) and the 400-yard IM (4:50.73).
"Jess probably had the best swim of the weekend," Young-Hyman said. "I don't know what she was expecting to do on Saturday, but I think she surprised herself, because the times she swam were not just really good for her, but were really good for this time in the season in general."
As in the Trinity meet, the diving squad kept the team afloat, sweeping the top three spots in both the 1-meter and 3-meter dives, as Swett continued her diving domination from last season.
Young-Hyman also had a solid day, winning the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:10.31, earning a fourth-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle (56.51), and participating in the two relays.
