Jumbos aim to move up NESCAC rankings with host of fresh talent

With 29 new first-years joining the squads, the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams look formidable going into the winter season. New members include two-time Ohio state champion Kingsley Bowen, two-time West Virginia finalist David Nason, two-time Mississippi state champion Alexandra Good and four-time Michigan finalist Larisa Kokubo.

In the last three seasons, the men’s team was able to claim fourth place finishes in the NESCAC, consistently losing out on a top three spot to Williams, Amherst and Conn. College.

“We always strive to be top three; we’re always really competitive with Conn. College,” senior tri-captain Cam Simko said. “That’s definitely the school that's right in front of us every time. We’re really hoping that this year with our strong freshman class we can push up there.”

Both Simko and fellow senior tri-captain Michael Winget pointed to first-years Bowen and Brandon Jinn as potential stars of the team.

“Kingsley [Bowen] and Brandon [Jinn] are people whose times should put them in contention to be top eight in the NESCAC," Simko said.

Despite the large number of incoming first-year recruits, every swimmer is given the opportunity to swim and practice equally, with four opportunities per day to practice. The volume of incoming talent has forced the upperclassmen to raise their performances in order to compete with the first-years. The incoming swimmers are often in peak athletic form as they are coming straight off summer training sessions with their club teams. The strength of these incoming athletes therefore forces the entire team to up its game.

Winget is not concerned about the large team size of 43, explaining that in college, swimmers compete in fewer races per meet, giving them the opportunity to focus on a few key events. Swimmers can become highly effective in a certain event, rather than having to be strong in many different ones to score more points for the team.

The women’s team has been frustrated by disappointing finishes in the NESCAC the past few years, finishing seventh in both 2013 and 2014. Senior tri-captain Sarah Mahoney believes that this was not a true reflection of the team’s talent and said that it aims to finish in the top five this season.

Mahoney is excited about the team’s prospect this season, citing first-year Colleen Doolan as an extremely promising new member. She also mentioned three new long-distance swimmers who will likely make an impact this season.

Adam Hoyt is entering his 12th season as the head coach of the men's team, but this will be his first year leading the women's team. Former women's head coach Nancy Bigelow now serves as the associate head coach to both programs.

“We’ve seen some changes in the way we train, the way we lift...and the way we operate as a team,” Mahoney said. “It’s been an adjustment period, but I think we’re only going to get faster and stronger.”

Hoyt has also been recruiting heavily, leading to a decrease in the number of walk-ons in the past few years.

The first-years have lived up to their rankings, with Jinn and Doolan clinching the titles of men’s and women’s Swimmer of the Week on collegeswimming.com, respectively, following their impressive performances at the New England Invitational held on Nov. 7 at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Bowen has already set an unofficial Tufts record for the 100-meter medley race at the recent Alumni meet. 

Both teams look ahead to the Middlebury Invitational on Nov. 21, where they will be competing against Middlebury and Conn. College. Mahoney highlighted that Middlebury has recruited very strongly this year and therefore will be a force to reckon with this weekend. Conn. College, meanwhile, will continue to be an important rival.

“Connecticut College and Middlebury are very big competitors, so with this weekend coming up we want to have a strong presence and show them that we’ve trained really hard already,” women's team senior tri-captain Randi Katz said. “We’re hoping that at [the] NESCAC [Championships] we’ll be on par with them.”

The teams will compete in a number of dual-meets to open the season. They are both working toward the NESCAC Championships, which will be held in March 2016.