Successful weekend sees new records in second-to-last 2015 meet

Tufts competed in a three-day invitational at MIT last weekend that pitted them against tough rivals like NYU, Keene State and Wheaton College. Although Tufts ultimately finished third behind MIT and NYU, individuals shone in certain races, setting new records and qualifying for nationals.

First-year Brandon Jinn, previously highlighted as a potential star by this year’s captains, set a new Tufts record in the 1650-meter freestyle on Friday. Jinn broke an eight-year record by more than two seconds, swimming the freestyle in 16:00.22 to improve upon the previous time of 16:02.85 set by Greg Bettancourt in 2007. During the 800-yard freestyle relay, senior tri-captain Michael Winget was five milliseconds away from beating another of Bettancourt’s records from 2006.

Jinn had another standout performance, placing third in the 500-yard freestyle on Sunday. Senior tri-captain Cam Simko followed closely in seventh place, narrowly missing out on a significantly higher finish, as fifth, sixth and seventh place came within one second of each other. In the 200-yard freestyle, Simko finished eighth, two spots above Jinn's 10th-place finish; the two were separated by less than a second.

Winget also had a successful weekend, finishing fourth in the 100-yard backstroke -- second, third and fourth place were separated by only seven milliseconds. In the 200-yard backstroke, Winget swam nearly two seconds faster than the NCAA B cut time, placing him in contention for nationals qualifications.

Three other swimmers met the NCAA B cut during the tournament. First-year Kingsley Bowen recorded a 100-yard backstroke of 50.43, beating the NCAA B cut of 50.88.Senior Anthony DeBenedetto swam a full second faster than the B cut for the 200-yard butterfly, while first-year Zachary Wallace swam nearly two seconds under the cut for the 400-yard Individual Medley on Saturday.

“When you have fast competition, you’re going to have fast races,” sophomore Jacob Seigelbaum, who was sidelined with an injury but still attended the meet, said. “This sets us up really well both mentally and time-wise for the rest of the season. It’s always nice to have that boost of confidence early on.”

Junior Jon Arbaugh, who finished 10th in the 100-yard breaststroke and is going abroad next semester, was the only Jumbo to have “shaved and tapered” -- a term used to describe the preparation that swimmers undergo as they approach peak season. The rest of the team will shave and taper ahead of the NESCAC championships next spring.

The Jumbos were one of the only teams that had not "shaved and tapered" ahead of the MIT Invitational, according to Bowen, meaning they were potentially disadvantaged compared to other teams who were approaching their peak season. Tufts did not let this affect its performance, however; it beat out its rival Keene State, who had previously come above it in this competition last year.

“A lot of the guys have been dropping time, which is awesome to see because it’s getting us ready for our championship meets in the spring,” sophomore James McElduff, who came 12th in the 200-yard butterfly, said.

Sophomore Morgan Ciliv, who came in 11th in the 100-yard breaststroke, was able to shave off half a second between his preliminary race and the final later in the day. Because of this, he was able to come first in his heat and finish higher than people who had originally been seeded above him.

“By simply focusing on what I could do better from the prelim, I was able to drop a little time for the final,” Ciliv said. “From talking to the coaches after the race, I was able to learn something and apply it in the final.”

Ciliv was also part of the 400-meter medley relay team that set the new NESCAC fastest time of 3:27.19, beating the previous record of 3:31.44, set by Williams. 

The Jumbos finished third overall, and the team's results were not dominated by individual performances.

“From a performance standpoint, it's great to have them racing really well early in the season, but our goal is to race our best at the end of the season,” coach Adam Hoyt said. “To have them step up early on and swim as well as they did this weekend said a lot about their preseason preparation and the level of focus they have carried through this entire semester.”

Sophomore Aaron Idelson is Tufts’ only male diver this semester, as junior Matt Rohrer is abroad. Idelson placed first in the 1-meter diving competition, with his back one-and-a-half and front two-and-a-half going very successfully. Idelson also qualified for nationals with a score of 446.55 -- over the NCAA cut of 425 -- making him the fifth Jumbo of the day to exceed the NCAA cut.

The last 2015 meet for Tufts will be against Wesleyan and Worcester Polytechnic Institute at Wesleyan on Dec. 11. Following that, the team has time over winter break to train uninterrupted.

“This is the biggest stretch of the season without racing, so we’re going to get back into the pool this week and swim -- swim a lot,” Hoyt said. “We’re going to try to do it with a lot of effort, focus and purpose. We’re two to three months away from our championships; now is a great time to realize and have a sense of urgency in the pool when it comes to our training.”