Winget, Rohrer to represent Jumbos at NCAAs

At long last, the 2015 NCAA Men's Swimming & Diving National Championships have arrived.

Junior tri-captain Michael Winget and sophomore diver Matt Rohrer -- both NCAA veterans -- will be representing the Jumbos at the Championships, to be held at the Conroe ISD Natatorium in Shenandoah, Texas, next Wednesday through Saturday.

Both Winget and Rohrer will be competing in the same events in which they competed a year ago. For Winget, it was not until the NESCAC Championships on Feb. 20-22 that he earned a second consecutive bid to NCAAs. 

At NESCACs, Winget swam the backstroke leg of Tufts’ stellar fifth place 400-meter medley relay, which set a school record and was more than a second under the NCAA B time, and which currently ranks as the 10th-fastest time in the country. He broke yet another school record at NESCACs, in the 200-meter backstroke, placing him for 13th nationally with a time of 1:48.37.

In addition to the backstroke events, Winget will also be competing in the 100 butterfly, where his seed time is 52.76.

“My goal is always to swim best times when I go to big meets like NCAAs,” Winget said. “It can be hard to set other goals because you don’t know how fast or slow other people will swim at the meet. Keeping that in mind, I believe if I swim my best I will make it back in multiple events, [and] I want to make it back in as many events as possible.”

Rohrer, not to be outdone, capped off a stellar sophomore campaign with multiple diving titles. At NESCACs, he was the champion in the one-meter event and the runner-up in the three-meter. A week later, he qualified once again for the national championships by winning the three-meter at the NCAA Zone Qualifying meet -- which automatically qualified him for NCAAs in both diving events -- before placing third in the one-meter.

The Jumbos are also sending two fewer athletes to the championships than last year, meaning it will be more difficult for them to score points and thus match last year’s 19th place finish. But in Winget and Rohrer, the team is certainly sending a pair of experienced NCAA point-scorers.

At last year’s meet, Rohrer was 10th off of both boards in his NCAA debut, contributing 14 of Tufts' 50 total points and earning a pair of honorable mention All-American awards. He tallied a 467.30 score in the one-meter and a 467.40 in the three-meter. At NCAA Zones two weeks ago, he scored a 585.20 in his three-meter, title-winning performance and a 509.35 in the one-meter. Scores can vary with different judges, but clearly Rohrer can improve upon his finishes from last year.

“Definitely intimidating,” Rohrer said of the stiff competition he will undoubtedly face. “Seeing all of the best divers in the country and knowing that you're trying to beat them is very scary and definitely can throw you off. I think that since I went last year, and I know some more of the guys that I'll be competing against, I'll be less intimidated than last year, but my nerves will definitely be at a season high.”

Winget also picked up an honorable mention All-American award, in addition to a lone point, for the team last year when he placed 16th in the 100-meter backstroke with a time of 50.40. He also swam in the 200-meter backstroke and 100-meter butterfly at that meet, and although he did not make the finals in either event, the experience he gained from those highly competitive races can only help him this year.

“I think [my experience] will really help me a lot,” Winget said. “NCAAs is a big, exciting meet and having experience is a big advantage. For example, it can be easy to get overwhelmed by the awe of the meet, but since I’ve already been, I can just focus on my swimming -- and Matt [on his] diving -- rather than try and take everything in.”

With the championships under a week away, Winget and Rohrer have only a brief period during which to fine-tune and perfect their strokes and dives, respectively.Winget noted that he will be working predominantly on the finer points of racing rather than on the stroke itself, in order to shave the fractions of seconds that can prove so decisive in the end.

“After NESCACs, coach Hoyt and I sat down and discussed my training plan for NCAAs,” Winget said. “We’ve mostly been focusing on the minutia of my races, i.e. turns, breakouts, starts, etc. That being said, we are still putting an emphasis on pace work for my races at NCAAs.”

Rohrer, meanwhile, told the Daily last week that he was trying to add one or two more dives with higher degrees of difficulty to his list, which would have allowed him to score more points if landed well. Shortly thereafter, however, he fell ill and missed a practice, so he will be unable to incorporate any new dives. He is now just trying to convalesce and solidify the repertoire of dives on which he’s depended all season long so that he can wring as many points out of them as possible. 

Rohrer and Winget have already proven that they’re capable of performing at the highest levels. If they can simply sustain the quality of their swimming and diving, which they have done expertly throughout this season, they will score big points for the Jumbos. It all comes down to whether they can keep their focus before each event. If they can, they will ensure Tufts' place on the national stage.