The men's and women's swimming teams both returned to action against MIT on Saturday in their lone home meet of the semester at Hamilton Pool, marking the final sendoff for the squads' seniors. The Engineers, whose men's and women's squads both boast top-ten national rankings, proved to be too much for the Jumbos, running away with meets by scores of 248-119 and 217.5-158.5, respectively.
The men's team honored 12 senior swimmers and divers on Senior Day and the women's team honored nine members in their final home meet of the season.
"This [senior] class came in as one the strongest classes in a while," women's coach Nancy Bigelow said. "They are all very versatile swimmers and will be hard to replace."
With the spotlight on the class of 2012, several female seniors had strong performances. Co-captain Courtney Adams placed second by a narrow margin in both the 50-yard and 200-yard freestyle races. Senior diver Kelly Flanagan also performed well for the home crowd, posting a first place finish in the 3-meter dive and
a third place finish in the 1-meter dive with scores of 268.20 and 247.04, respectively. It was Flanagan's best finish so far this season.
"Kelly started her career at Tufts basically from scratch," Bigelow said. "To see her progress to where she is now is impressive, and just goes to show that hard work pays off."
The Jumbos received major contributions from several underclassmen as well.
Sophomore Mia Greenwald was one of three Jumbos to finish first in the meet, touching the wall in 26.83 seconds in the 50-yard butterfly. Greenwald also finished second in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 59.85. Freshman Sam Sliwinski earned a first-place finish in the 100-meter freestyle, touching the wall after 55.28 seconds. Sophomore Ellen Gage came from behind on the final leg of the 200-yard breaststroke to edge MIT's Nora Darago for a victory of her own.
Several other Jumbos had noteworthy performances. Sophomore Jenny Hu recorded four second place finishes on the day, in the 100-meter individual medley, the 50-yard breaststroke, the 100-yard breaststroke and as the second leg of the 200-yard medley relay team. Sami Bloom continued her successful season with second place finishes in the 1-meter and 3-meter dives.
"We worked hard all week, but we still haven't turned the corner yet," Bigelow said. "Coming off of a long training trip, we were swimming tired, and they swam well despite this. We're setting up to do well later in the season."
For the men's team, the only two first place finishes in the meet came, fittingly, from seniors. In the closest race of the day, senior co-captain Owen Rood won the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 21.88, touching one-hundredth of a second ahead of MIT's Brendon Chiu.
Senior Brandon Ching swam the 50-yard butterfly in a time of 24.02, good for first place, and he came in second in the 100-yard individual medley. Meanwhile, senior co-captain Joe McLoughlin finished third in the 200-yard breaststroke in his final home meet.
"It was very emotional," McLoughlin said. "The swim team for me personally, and for probably all of the seniors, has been the most important part of the Tufts experience for the past four years. It's something we've invested a lot of time in and gained a lot of relationships from."
"They are a great group of individuals," men's head coach Adam Hoyt said of the seniors. "They've been together for four years, and they're great leaders in the pool, as well as out of the pool, as role models. I'm lucky to have been able to coach them."
Several underclassmen also had strong performances against a talented MIT squad. Sophomore diver Johann Schmidt swept the diving events for the Jumbos, and sophomore Kyle Savidge contributed three runner-up performances — in the 500-yard freestyle, the 50-yard backstroke, and as the first leg of the 200-yard medley relay team.
"Every time we swim against MIT we come in knowing how great of a team they are in terms of talent," McLoughlin said. "We look at it as a great chance to swim fast and compare ourselves to some of the best swimmers in the country. We did a lot of great things in this meet and that will translate well for the rest of the season."
With the loss, the men's record dipped to 3-3; the women are now 3-4. The men will return to action on Tuesday against Boston College, and the women will face Worcester Polytechnic Institute at Wheaton College on Saturday.
