Tufts heads to Bowdoin this weekend in search of its fourth consecutive runner-up finish at the NESCAC Championships, which begin this morning and will end Sunday evening.
Each day will feature a round of preliminary heats followed by a round of championship races.While first place is not out of the question for the Jumbos, to get there they will have to unseat a Williams program that has won eight straight conference titles and nine out of the last 10, including the third-highest score in meet history last year. The Ephs edged out the Jumbos 175-123 on Jan. 15.
Tufts will also have to overcome Amherst, which defeated Williams 132-111 in a dual meet on Jan. 8. The Ephs, Jumbos and Lord Jeffs have occupied the top three spots at the conference meet each of the past five years.
Based on recent history, it seems likely that Tufts and Amherst will take enough points away from each other to secure first place for Williams. However, the Jumbos and Lord Jeffs could also conceivably steal points from the Ephs and pave the road for a new champion.
But Tufts is staying realistic and aiming for a second-place showing.
"We always want to win," senior quad-captain Joe Lessard said. "We've never won the conference meet, so that's the loftiest goal there is for us. The realistic goal is we want to get second this year. Amherst is certainly coming on strong, and Williams is the perennial favorite, but I think more so than ever before the top three is going to be really close."
In spite of the Jumbos' success in recent years, the team still feels that it needs to prove its worth to other NESCAC schools.
"Every year, we get undersold by other teams as ‘Oh yeah, Tufts is good, but we're going to beat them,' or ‘Tufts is good, but they'll only get third this year," Lessard said. "[That's] not to say we fly under the radar — that's certainly not the case, because we're definitely one of the contenders — but we certainly come in discredited by a lot of other programs in terms of what people expect from us and what people think we can do."
The Jumbos have been tapering off their training since the Wheaton Invitational on Feb. 4-5, shifting their focus from speed and physical strength to the technical and mental aspects of a race.
"We start focusing on the details — things like starts, finishes, turns, race strategies," Lessard said. "Practices have gotten shorter, but they've also gotten more focused. So while the intensity physically isn't there, practices are a lot more mentally intense now because you're trying to be perfect every single yard. There's really no margin for error at the championship meet."
The swimmers are confident that their coach, Adam Hoyt, has prepared them well for the variety of challenges the conference meet presents.
"If you look at our past results, we're always one of the best-coached teams in terms of how we taper and how we respond to the rest and to the championship environment," senior quad-captain Gordy Jenkins said. "We never get there and get surprised."
With a strong core of senior leaders and fast swimmers across the board, the Jumbos appear poised for a stellar showing.
"This is probably the strongest team I've been on in my four years," Jenkins said. "From freshman to senior class, we're pretty much loaded in all areas, distance and sprint events. We can compete with anyone. We don't necessarily have a national champion; we have a bunch of really good guys that make each other better, and we surprise people."
In what is largely an individual sport, the team this season has struck a distinctive balance between intense individual focus and a sense of camaraderie and support.
"We emphasize the personal performance and the personal struggle, overcoming obstacles, overcoming challenges to persevere," Lessard said. "I think the biggest thing we have going for us as a team is that mentality. People look to Tufts, and they see a team that's full of spirit, full of fight, full of excitement. We have the unique ability to dominate a pool deck."
This team has no problem with confidence. But the Jumbos will need to persevere in the season's most intense meet to back up their brash talk. A dethroning of the Ephs may be unlikely, but this group of seniors is keeping their minds open to all possibilities."Hey, you never know," Jenkins said. "Either way, we're all going to have to swim well. But nothing's out of the picture."
