WILLIAMSTOWN – Senior breaststroker Jenny Hu of the Tufts women's swimming & diving team won a conference title, broke three school records and swam two national B cut times to lead the Jumbos at the 2014 New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Championships this weekend.
On Friday night, Hu won her second conference title by tying for first in the 50 breaststroke race at the meet hosted by Williams College at Samuelson-Muir Pool. On the opening day of competition, Hu and Middlebury's Jamie Hillas recorded identical times of 29.10 seconds to tie for the 50 breast championship. Hu added the win to her 100 breaststroke NESCAC title last season in a 1:05.15 time.
Hu was third in Friday's 50 breast preliminaries with a 29.78 time that narrowly broke her own school record of 29.83 from 2012. She improved that mark with the 29.10 final. The time was a pool record. Middlebury's Hillas had won the prelims with a 29.34 time.
On Saturday, Hu's 1:04.01 in the 100 breaststroke broke her own previous school record (1:04.81) from last season. The time finished third at the race for All-NESCAC honors and was a National B cut performance. That improved upon the 1:05.75 B cut that she put down in the prelims.
Hu broke the 200 breaststroke school record on Sunday with a 2:22.05 finish for fourth place. The NCAA B cut time bested the previous Tufts mark of 2:23.72 set by Katie Swett in 2009. Hu had initially broken the record in the preliminaries at 2:23.20.
Finishing her conference career as a four-time All-NESCAC performer, Hu was second overall in the Senior High Point Award. The top five are recognized at the meet. Maggie Rosenbaum of Hamilton was number one.
The Jumbos received two other national B cut times. On Saturday, the 4:36.26 in the 400 individual medley from Amanda Gottschalk was ninth overall. It was an improvment by over four seconds on her 4:40.80 preliminary time. On Sunday, Amanda Wachenfeld recorded a national B cut of 17:33.52 in the 1,650 freestyle, which earned her ninth place.
Head coach Nancy Bigelow's Jumbos reached the finals in 11 events overall at the meet. Junior Samantha Sliwinski had two. She posted a top-five finish in the 50 freestyle Friday. Her time of 24.26 seconds was fifth overall. On Sunday, she swam a seventh-place time of 53.11 in the 100 freestyle. Wachenfeld swam a strong 10:29.95 in the 1,000 freestyle on Saturday for sixth place.
Two relays reached the finals on Friday. The Jumbos were seventh in the 200 freestyle relay. Hu, Sliwinski, Sophia Lin and Kathryn Coniglio earned a spot in the final with a 1:38.42 for sixth in the prelims. The order of Sliwinski, Lin, Hu and Coniglio then went 1:37.87 in the final. To close Friday's swimming, Kelsey McEvoy, Hu, Cassidy Hubert and Kathryn Coniglio swam 3:57.96 for eighth place in the 400 medley relay.
Saturday's 200 medley relay became the third Jumbo foursome to final. Andrea Coniglio, Hu, Hubert and Sliwinski timed 1:47.78 to place seventh. The 800 freestyle relay group of Wachenfeld, Sarah Mahoney, Kathryn Coniglio and Sliwinski swam eighth with a 7:52.56 finish also that day.
The 400 freestyle relay was the last event to make the finals at the meet. Sliwinski, Lin, Hu and Kathryn Coniglio touched seventh with a 3:33.84 time.
Tufts had three swimmers score in the top 16 of the 50 breast overall. In addition to Hu's tie for first, Laura Cui placed 12th (31.40) and Ellen Gage took 14th at 31.91 seconds. Gottschalk led three Jumbos who top 16'd in the 400 IM. Maddie Golison touched 13th in 4:45 flat, and Katharine Majewski was 16th at 4:48.73 in Saturday's final.
Tufts scored seventh overall as a team at the meet with 747.5 points. Williams College won the 2014 title in domination fashion 2007 points.
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