BRUNSWICK, ME – Competing in the final NESCAC Championship meet of his outstanding career, senior tri-captain Johann Schmidt of the Tufts men's swimming & diving team started strong by winning the one-meter diving title on the first day of competition Friday at Bowdoin College's LeRoy Greason Pool.
Schmidt not only won the sixth conference diving title of his career, he did so with the best score he's ever achieved in the event. His final total of 578.15 was a new pool, school, NESCAC and conference championship meet record. He has now earned conference victories in the one-meter three times (2014, 2012, 2011). On Sunday, he will compete for his fourth consecutive NESCAC three-meter title.
The Jumbos earned big points in one-meter diving as freshman Matt Rohrer was also outstanding in his first conference meet on Friday. His 528.90 score in the finals was good for third place. Amherst's Colin White, who gave Schmidt his only NESCAC loss in last year's one-meter event, placed second with a 536.55 score.
Jumbo freshman William Metcalfe has had a strong two days at the NESCAC meet. He opened on Friday by twice swimming school-record and national B cut times in the 200 individual medley. In the preliminaries his 1:51.63 was 3.46 seconds faster than the previous Tufts record of 1:55.09 set by Chris Vorlicek in 2009. Metcalfe then improved upon that mark with a 1:51.53 in the final for third place at the meet and a national qualifying mark.
On Saturday, Metcalfe swam a time of 49.49 seconds in the preliminaries of the 100 butterfly to break a Tufts record and establish a national B cut. He erased the previous time of 49.90 by Andrew Shields in 2009 from the record book. He placed seventh in the final with a 49.80 finish.
Like Metcalfe, sophomore Michael Winget has broken school records on consecutive days. He surpassed E.J. Testa's 2011 school record of 23.65 seconds in the 50 backstroke on Friday. In the preliminaries, Winget swam 23.52 for the new record time. He managed eighth in the final at 23.81 seconds. On Saturday, Winget's 50.49 time in the 100 backstroke preliminaries improved upon his own school mark of 50.63 set last year. Saturday's finish was also a national B qualifier. In the 100 back final, Winget was eighth in 50.86 seconds. Tufts has established five new school records in all at the meet.
Head coach Adam Hoyt's team swam national B times in four events overall on Saturday. The 800 freestyle relay group of Metcalfe, junior Mike Napolitano, sophomore Anthony DeBenedetto and sophomore Cam Simko had the highest finish of Saturday's B cut swimmers. They were fourth with a 6:51.81 time.
Both freshman Luca Guadagno and senior Christian Jones hit B marks in the 400 individual medley on Saturday. Guadagno was eighth in the final with his 4:05.48 B time. Jones hit the mark with his 4:05.51 for 10th place in the consolation finals. That was almost three seconds faster than 4:08.40 preliminary time he recorded.
Simko swam a national B cut in the 500 freestyle on Friday. His 4:36.12 time was fourth overall at the race. He had timed 4:36.60 in the preliminaries, which was also a national B time. Tufts had three swimmers place in the top 10 for the event. DeBenedetto took eighth with his 4:41.17 time in the finals. Jones was 16th in the prelims (4:40.81) before speeding it up in the consolation final for a 4:38.98 10th-place effort.
Several relays have reached the finals for Tufts. Closing the swimming events on Friday, the 400 medley foursome of Winget, senior Andrew Turk, Metcalfe and senior Drew Berman scored fourth with their 3:25.42 time. They had been a bit better in the preliminaries at 3:24.85 for third. The 200 freestyle relay came in sixth with a 1:25.26 finish also on Friday. The foursome was sophomore Harry Wood, Winget, Simko and Berman.
Saturday's finalists included the 200 medley relay of Winget, Turk, senior Eric Douglas and Berman placing sixth with a 1:34.20 time. Individually, Douglas touched seventh overall in Friday's 50 butterfly, timing 23.29 seconds.
Tufts is fourth at the NESCAC meet after two days with 763 points. Defending champion Williams College holds the lead following day two of the 2014 NESCAC Championship with 1,288.5 points. Amherst (1,196) is second, Connecticut College (1,133) is third and Bates (638) is fifth.
Action concludes on Sunday with the preliminaries at 10:00 am and the finals at 5:30 pm from Greason Pool.
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