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Sophomore Jenny Hu had two second-place efforts in the breaststroke
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MIDDLETOWN, CT – With 11 school records broken or tied, and seven national B times posted, the Tufts women's swimming & diving team had one of its best-ever performances at the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) meet in 2012. The Jumbos placed third out of 11 teams, scoring 1,261.5 points at the meet hosted by Wesleyan Friday through Sunday.
Tufts was second after both the first and second days of competition, but ran out of steam a bit on Sunday. Williams won in convincing style with 1,826 points. Amherst surpassed Tufts on Sunday and finished at 1,430.5 points. Middlebury was fourth (1,125.5).
Sophomore Jenny Hu (Oakland, CA) had two runner-up efforts for the Jumbos. On Saturday, she was second in the 100 breaststroke final by breaking her own school-record from last year with a national B cut time of 1:05.78. On Friday in the 50 breaststroke, Hu was second overall with a school-record time of 29.83 seconds in the final. She broke a five-year old Tufts record.
A strong showing in the relays all weekend was highlighted by senior co-captain Courtney Adams (Lake Forest, IL), first-year Samantha Sliwinski (Weymouth, MA), senior Paulina Ziolek (Londonderry, NH) and first-year Kathryn Coniglio (Branchburg, NJ) taking second in Friday's 200 freestyle relay final. Their 1:36 flat time was a school-record, breaking the 1:36.10 mark they put together in the preliminaries on Friday. The previous mark had been three years old. The Jumbos' time was also inside of the 1:36.31 national B qualifying mark.
In Saturday's first event, Jumbos Sliwinski, Hu, sophomore Mia Greenwald (Park City, UT) and Adams timed 1:45.83 to break a year-old school-record and earn a national B time in the 200 medley relay. Greenwald also had a national B time in the 100 butterfly on Saturday with her finish of 57.44 seconds in the preliminary. She was fourth in the finals (57.85).
Greenwald had broken a two-year old school record in the 50 butterfly on Friday when she clocked a preliminary time of 25.50 seconds. Her 25.68 finish in the final was third. Senior co-captain Valerie Eacret (Goleta, CA) swam a fantastic final in the 50 fly, placing fourth at 26.06 seconds. She had been eighth in the prelims (26.49). On Saturday, Eacret again backed Greenwald in the 100 fly placing fifth in 58.15 seconds.
Sliwinski posted two individual records during the weekend. Her time of 24.13 seconds in the 50 freestyle on Friday was a new Tufts standard, erasing the previous mark from 2008. She was seventh in the final (24.32). On Saturday, she touched in 59.36 for seventh in the 100 backstroke, erasing a two-year old Tufts mark.
The 400 medley relay team of Sliwinski, sophomore Ellen Gage (Storrs, CT), Greenwald and Coniglio broke the school record by three seconds with their 3:55.22 preliminary time on Friday. They were fifth in the finals at 3:56.36. On Sunday, Adams, junior Lizz Grainger (Nashville, TN), Garvey and Sliwinski recorded a school-record mark of 3:32.91 for fifth in the final.
Earlier on Sunday, Adams tied the Tufts eight-year old 100 freestyle record with her 52.96 finish for sixth place. In Saturday's 400 individual medley, junior Christine Garvey (West Chester, PA) and first-year Amanda Wachenfeld (Basking Ridge, NJ) both recorded national B times. Garvey was fifth in the final with a 4:33.12 touch, while Wachenfeld was sixth at 4:34.21. Garvey was also strong in the finals of the 500 freestyle on Friday. Her 5:02.42 mark for fifth place is a national B cut. She had timed 5:05.47 in the preliminary. Wachenfeld added a fifth place in Saturday's 1,000 freestyle (10:30.68).
Gage, who had the third-best preliminary time in the 50 breast with a 30.45 touch, placed seventh in the final (30.46) on Friday. She improved to a fifth-place effort in the 100 breast on Saturday (1:06.90).
In one-meter diving on Friday, sophomore Sami Bloom (Wilton, CT) and senior Kelly Flanagan (Boxborough, MA) were both in the top eight. Bloom placed fifth with a 399.28 score, while Flanagan was eighth with 379.08 points. In Sunday's three-meter event, Bloom placed fifth (398.70) and Flanagan was sixth (385.75).
The Jumbos will now await word on which of their times/scores qualify for the NCAA Championships March 21-24 in Indianapolis.
Championship results
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