In an unfortunate start to its 2013-2014 season, the women's swimming and diving team dropped its first event Saturday, losing to both Middlebury and Conn. College at a tri-meet at Middlebury. The Jumbos lost to the host Panthers by a score of 190-108 and fell to the Camels 186-102.
The result was disappointing for a team that finished third in last year's NESCAC Championships and tied for 51st at the NCAA Championships. The team did lose to both Middlebury and Conn. College at the start of last year's season as well.
There were, however, bright spots for the Jumbos. Tufts' divers were dominant on Saturday as they swept their events. Senior Sami Bloom took first in the one-meter event with a score of 210.98 and second in the three-meter with a 222.38, and freshman Kylie Reiman won the three-meter with a 224.93 in her collegiate debut.
"I was really nervous at first to see how I would measure up in my first real collegiate meet," Reiman said. "I was completing a dive - a reverse 1 1/2 pike - that I had just recently learned, and I was not really confident about it yet. But when I got on the board and heard my teammates cheering for me and supporting me, it really made a big difference, and it ended up being my highest scoring dive of the meet."
The swimmers did not fare as well as their diving teammates, but several still had strong performances. Senior Jenny Hu, defending NESCAC champion in the 100 breaststroke, took second in that event despite still recovering from an off-season injury. Junior Samantha Sliwinski took third in both the 50 and 100 freestyle, while freshman Amanda Gottschalk took third in the 200 breaststroke, earning the best showing of any of Tufts' freshmen swimmers. Also contributing to the team score, sophomore Samantha Swinton finished fourth in three different events: the 200 freestyle, the 200 butterfly and the 100 butterfly.
"I was happy with our performance," senior tri-captain Ellen Gage said. "We had gone in hoping to beat Middlebury and Conn., and we are very competitive with both teams, so it was disappointing to lose. But there were some good swims and dives yesterday, and I think we carried some really good energy into the meet that will hopefully continue through the rest of the season."
There is strong evidence that this early season setback will not be indicative of Tufts' overall season. The team has only been training and practicing at in-season level for just over three weeks, and several of the swimmers and divers cited this as a possible factor in the losses.
The team also battled through and overcame several injuries, such as Hu's broken pelvis, sustained in September, and Bloom's recently sprained wrist, which prevented her from performing all of her dives. Yet, these two still managed to notch impressive finishes for Tufts.
Saturday's meet results, though unsuccessful at first glance, showed the potential of the team for the coming months.
"Our freshmen are great this year and are a big asset to the team," Gage said. "We have some really exciting talent coming in, and there's so much potential when you have people coming into a new training regimen and, for many, lifting for the first time."
The diving contingent appears even more poised for success this season, as their performance this weekend indicated.
"We had a lot of strong freshmen divers join the team, and nobody graduated last year, so we're looking to have a good year," Bloom said. "We'd like to have a clear impact in the NESCAC and prove what Tufts diving is worth."
Such a balance between upper- and underclassmen bodes well for the Jumbos, as this year's strong group of freshmen already augments a talented group of swimmers and divers. Several freshmen and sophomores have played major roles already by not only performing well individually, but also stepping up to swim in relays.
The 200 freestyle relay team of Hu, Sliwinski, freshman Sophia Lin and sophomore Sarah Mahoney were less than a second from first place, while the 200 medley relay team of senior tri-captain Emma Van Lieshout, Hu, Lin and freshman Cassidy Hubert finished fourth out of 13.
"It's an individual sport in the sense that we all get our own times, but when we come together in the relay, you see how committed everyone is - they swim faster, and it's fun to race with your teammates," Hu said. "There were two freshmen and two seniors in my first relay, and a person from each year in the second, so it was fun to mix it up and create some chemistry with the underclassmen."
As the team continues to incorporate its freshmen into the program and the team dynamic, several of the seniors are confident that Tufts can again finish at the top of the NESCAC and send swimmers to Nationals.
The next test of whether those hopes will become a reality comes this Saturday, as Tufts takes on Keene State at 1 p.m. in its home opener at Hamilton Pool.
