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Freshman John Devine led off the winning 400 free relay
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MIDDLETOWN, CT - The Tufts men's swimming & diving team split their first meet of the new year on Saturday, soundly defeating Wesleyan University but falling to Williams College. The Jumbos are fresh off a two-week intensive training trip to Ft. Lauderdale.
The scores were 212-69 over the host Cardinals, and 93-201 against Williams. The Jumbos now have a 3-2 record for the season.
"The fitness level is really up as a result of the winter break training," head coach Adam Hoyt said. "Some of the races were tired, but it's clear that majority of the people improved from last semester and that's what we're looking for."
Coach Hoyt is excited to see how fast everyone can go when they clean up their starts and turns and have a little rest.
The men opened the meet with a strong performance in the 200 medley relay, finishing second in 1:39.06. The team consisted of freshman John Devine (Auburn, MA), sophomore Drew Berman (Miami, FL), senior Brandon Ching (Honolulu, HI) and senior co-captain Owen Rood (Branford, CT).
In the 200 freestyle, sophomore Austin Wood (Fort Washington, PA) finished third in 1:47.78. Senior Alex Strittmatter (Fairfield, Ct) finished fifth in 1:48.82. In the 100 backstroke, sophomore Christian Jones (Lewisvile, NC) finished third in 55.04. Senior co-captain Joe McLoughlin (North Eastham, MA) finished fourth in the 100 breaststroke in 1:02.53.
Freshman Mike Napolitano (Fanwood, NJ) finished third in the 200 butterfly in 1:59.70. Sophomore Kyle Savidge (South Windsor, CT) finished third in the 200 backstroke in 2:00.02. Berman finished second in the 200 breaststroke in 2:16.31. Ching was third in the 100 butterfly in 53.63.
Rood was the only double individual winner of the day, winning both the 50 and 100 freestyles in 21.54 and 47.38 respectively. Jones won the 500 freestyle in 4:49.00. The mark was the best in-season time of his career.
The Jumbos finished the meet off going 1-2 in the 400 freestyle relay. Devine, Savidge, Wood, and Rood won in 3:14.13, while Ching, sophomore Craig Olynyk (Redmond, WA), freshman Will Parker (Frederick, MD) and Strittmatter finished second in 3:17.47.
Rood noted that everyone went faster in the relay than in the individual swim. "It was fantastic that we all stepped up and swam so great," he said.
The Jumbos have their last home meet of the season next Saturday against MIT. It will be the senior recognition meet.
Meet results
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