Coming off of a season in which a young squad may have overachieved, a more experienced men's swimming and diving team is ready to break out and compete for both NESCAC and national supremacy.
Last season, the Jumbos went 6-3 in dual meets but delivered their best performance at the end of the season in the NESCAC Championships at Wesleyan. Displaying its depth, Tufts took an early lead at the three-day event and gave conference heavyweight and seven-time consecutive NESCAC champions Williams a run for its money before finishing comfortably in second place.
The Jumbos broke 15 school records en route to their third second-place finish in the last four seasons. The team also sent six swimmers and a diver, then-junior Rob Matera, to the Div. III NCAA Championships in Minneapolis, Minn.
"It was a great season," coach Adam Hoyt said. "We had some standout seniors that we will definitely miss, but I think just having the experience of racing these races more in a really competitive environment is really going to help our team."
Tufts lost some contributors from last season, most notably former captains James Longhurst (E '09) and Andrew Shields (E '09), who were a part of multiple honorable mention All-American relays at NCAAs. But with the depth that the Jumbos have on this year's team, they should be more than capable of filling the gaps left by their departures.
"We lost a great senior class last year," senior quad-captain Matt Salzberg said. "But we have some great freshmen coming in who are really strong and add a lot of depth and a lot of character to the team, and we are returning a huge portion of our NESCAC squad from last year. So, yeah, we have depth this year, but we are also looking to try to take some of those top spots."
The Jumbos are hoping that last year's results will translate into even greater success this season. While Williams is the dominant force at the top of the NESCAC, and Amherst is always competitive as well, Tufts feels that its overall team strength could bring it to the top of the conference in the 2009-10 season.
"We are kind of poised right now to take the next step on both the NESCAC and the national level," Salzberg said. "We have got to the national level, and we are bringing in a really strong freshman class, and the team itself is motivated to try to inch a little closer to Williams and maybe dethrone them at the top. They have been a huge powerhouse the last decade, and every year we are kind of getting a little bit closer to them."
"It's always a goal to just be better each year and to have the guys be better individually and have them be better collectively as a team," Hoyt added. "And hopefully at some stage it is reflective in the score at the championship meet. It absolutely feels like we can compete with those guys, and we are ready to compete with them, and we want to compete with them, so it should be a fun season."
To be on par with Williams and better the Ephs' 35th-place finish at nationals, the Jumbos will need contributions from some underclassmen. Last year, freshmen E.J. Testa and Owen Rood were a part of the relay teams at nationals. Though Hoyt is not sure what to expect from his freshmen this year, he thinks that everyone on his team could put together strong seasons.
"Right now, minus the freshmen, who I don't know well enough yet, just about every sophomore, junior and senior has the ability to really have a breakout season," he said. "So I'm just excited to watch the guys work hard and see what comes out of it. So I think everyone can step up, and I think that's what it will take for us to be competitive at the conference level."
Salzberg and fellow quad-captains seniors Matera, Lawrence Chan and Rob Delean have been holding captains' practices throughout the fall and have gotten a chance to work out with the underclassmen. According to Salzberg, there are a number of newcomers, such as Brian Marko and Jack Thomas, and some sophomores, like Travis Grodkiewicz and Andrew Vidikan, who have looked great in practice and should contribute to the team's efforts.
But the biggest strength of the team might be the diving squad; Matera should be the best diver in the conference with the departure of Amherst's Kai Robinson. With junior Trevor Stack also one of the five best divers in the conference last year, the Jumbos should get consistent points from this duo.
"Our team from top to bottom right now is looking really strong," Salzberg said. "So this weekend will be the first test, and I feel like we are going to come out with some really good results."
In the opening weekend, Tufts will have two meets. The Jumbos will open up their schedule with a visit from an uncommon opponent in Colorado College tonight before heading to Middlebury to take on the Panthers and Conn. College in their first NESCAC action of the season on Saturday.
"We are really looking forward to this weekend," Salzberg said. "We have been putting in a lot of work through captains' practices in the early fall and working with Coach in November. We have had a good two and a half weeks of practice, and we are just excited to start racing because this sport is just about being with your teammates and getting up for races and seeing how fast you can go."
