Men's swimming and diving win 3 races in loss at MIT, prepares for championship meets

The Engineers of MIT brought their full toolbox to their home swimming pool on Friday, defeating the Jumbos by a convincing score of 215.5–80.5. Tufts did not perform in full force; however, many of its swimmers are gearing up for the NESCAC Championships that start on Feb. 22.

MIT, the sixth-ranked team in the nation, capped off their seventh straight win of the season with impressive performances across the swimming spectrum on Friday. This included victories in 14 out the 16 possible events on the evening.

The Jumbos walked away victors in three of the 16 races. Because Tufts senior tri-captain Kingsley Bowen finished dead even with MIT first-year Henry Hu in the 100-yard backstroke, the swimmers shared the victory. They both finished in 51.90 seconds — a shock to some, but Bowen wasn’t entirely flabbergasted by the result.

“It definitely happens periodically,” Bowen said. “They’re pretty rare but it happens on occasion.”

Junior Roger Gu came away with the other two first-place results for the Jumbos. The freestyle specialist, who also walked away with multiple victories last week against Wheaton and Boston College, continued his fine form with a pair of top spots in both the 50 and 100-yard iterations of the crawl, finishing them in 20.31 and 44.96, respectively.

“Roger tends to be a soft spoken guy but really is a great leader both with his actions and his voice,” coach Adam Hoyt said. “He’s also a tremendous athlete [with a] high capacity for applying himself really well.”

The Jumbos finished second in a variety of events from relays to individual races. Included among these was the 200- yard medley where Bowen, first-year Nate Tingen and juniors Matthew Manfre and Gu raced to a second-place showing. They finished in 1:33.36, less than one second behind the first-place MIT team. Later in the day, a 200-yard freestyle relay consisting of Bowen, Gu, junior Costa Camerano and sophomore JJ Batt tag teamed their way to a 1:24.11 time, under a second and a half off the Engineers’ first-place time.

On the individual front, first-year Tar Tar Jarusinchai stroked his way to a 59.06 second-place finish in 100-yard breaststroke. Also in the runner-up position was junior Tommy Gillespie, wrapping up the 1000-yard freestyle just under the ten minute plateau at 9:59.53.

The dual meet was not the first time the Jumbos ventured to MIT this season. Their last trip at the MIT Invitational on Dec. 1–2, featured a neck-and-neck battle between the Engineers and the Jumbos, with the former finishing in first out of the six team field with a score of 2,012 points; Tufts was just behind them with 1,886.

"We went into MIT knowing they’d be really strong,” Hoyt said. “But really our main focus was executing races that sets us up for championships … It puts our athletes to set us up at the Boston Winter Open next week and NESCACs.”

Those not competing at the NESCAC Championships are preparing for their final race of the season at the BU Invite, hosted by the meet’s namesake on Feb. 8–9. The rest of the team looks ahead to the NESCAC Championships at Middlebury from Feb. 22–24.

“I’m looking forward the most to see how the team creates the right circumstance for it,” Bowen said. “”I think our team really thrives when we are put in the right circumstance, [which is] something we need to get in the habit of doing.”

Ultimately, the Jumbos remain optimistic after suffering a tough loss against respectable competition. This may prove vital in helping defend their NESCAC Championship in three weeks.