The men's swimming and diving team won its final dual meet of the season on Saturday, beating Wheaton College 205-119. Tufts improved their head-to-head record to 4-3, tallying their second-highest point total of the season.
"It was great to end the dual meet season on a high note as we head into the championship meets in the coming weeks," senior tri-captain Kyle Savidge said.
Tufts set the tone, winning the 400-yard medley relay to open the meet. Senior Drew Berman, sophomores Cameron Simko and Michael Winget and freshman William Metcalfe raced at 3:33.57 to beat Wheaton's "A" team by 8.4 seconds. The Jumbos followed up their strong opening act by taking four of the top five spots in the 1,000-yard freestyle, which sophomore Anthony DeBenedetto won with a time of 10:03.70.
Berman flourished in the last dual meet of his collegiate career, finishing first in the 200-yard freestyle and 200 breaststroke. Simko also won two individual events, taking the 200-yard fly and 200 individual medley. Winget won the 50-yard backstroke and Metcalfe took the 100 freestyle. Both also scored second place finishes, with Winget placing second in the 200 individual medley and Metcalfe the runner-up in the 200-meter freestyle.
Divers Johann Schmidt and Matt Rohrer finished one-two in the diving events. An All-American and senior tri-captain, Schmidt scored 355.05 points in the three-meter and 336.07 in the one-meter. His freshman teammate was not far behind, posting a 320.48 score in the three-meter competition and 304.42 points in the one-meter.
Berman and Schmidt were among the 13 Jumbos honored on Senior Day, which could not be held on campus as Hamilton Pool is closed for repairs. Though head coach Adam Hoyt said he was disappointed to leave the home pool, he was still pleased with the final result.
"It was great to finish out the dual meet season with a win and to recognize all the contributions our senior class has made to our team over the past four years," Hoyt said. "We had a great meet on Saturday at Wheaton because our team was focused on executing their race plans and had fun doing it."
Hoyt entered all the seniors into the mixed 100-yard individual medley time trial, which Matthew Wiens won with a 1:00.53 time. Savidge and Schmidt both mentioned this race as a personal highlight from the meet.
"One of my favorite moments of the meet was watching and swimming the 100 IM with the senior boys," Schmidt said.
With the first half of their season complete, the Jumbos will turn their attention to the upcoming championship meets on their schedule. The first of these is the Middlebury Invitational on Friday and Saturday, which Coach Hoyt views as an important first step in the next phase of the season. He expects his team to be ready to compete against Amherst and Williams, the NESCAC's top two teams.
"Our team's focus all year long has been to use our dual meet schedule to prepare us for our championship meets, and this coming weekend will set the tone for our championship season," Hoyt said. "I expect our team to rise to the occasion and put together some great races as they've done for the majority of our season."
