SHENANDOAH, TX - Junior tri-captain Michael Winget and sophomore diver Matt Rohrer of the Tufts men's swimming & diving team were among the very best in the nation for their events on the final day of the 2015 NCAA Division III Championships on Saturday.
Winget placed fifth in the finals of the NCAA 200 backstroke with a 1:47.70 time. Rohrer finished sixth in the NCAA three-meter diving finals with a 512.85 score. With these efforts and others from earlier in the week, the Jumbo pair will come home with three All-American honors, two school records and one honorable mention All-American award.
With the 41 points earned by the pair, including 27 on Saturday, Tufts tied for 23rd as a team at the meet. Including their 19th place finish last season, head coach Adam Hoyt's team now has back-to-back top 25 national finishes and five in the last six years.
Winget's fifth place today is one of the best individual swimming finishes by a Tufts competitor at NCAA's. He had qualified for the final with a 1:47.76 time during the preliminaries. That broke his own school record, which he then reset with his time in the final. His time was second-best among New England entrants.
Rohrer earned his second outright All-American honor of the week in the three-meter competition today. He had qualified for the final with a 489.05 score which was sixth in the preliminaries. His finals total was the best of two New England divers competing on Saturday night.
In addition to the outright All-American award and school record in the 200 back, Winget was also an honorable mention All-American performer and reset his own school record in the 100 backstroke on Friday. Racing in the consolation final, Winget swam a time of 49.47 seconds which was 14th overall at the meet. The time improved upon his NCAA qualifying mark of 49.51 from the NESCAC Championships earlier this season. Winget had earned a spot in Friday night's 100 back finals by timing 49.68 seconds in the preliminaries during the day. That effort was 13th in the 100 trials.
Competing at his second NCAA event, Winget's fifth in the 100 back and 14th in the 200 back this year are the two best finishes of his career nationally. He now has three All-American awards overall, including last year when he was 16th in the NCAA 100 back (50.40) for an honorable mention citation.
On Thursday, Rohrer finished eighth in one-meter diving at the NCAA meet. The performance earned him All-American honors (top eight). With a 456.35 score in the preliminaries during the day, Rohrer was one of eight competitors to qualify for the championshp final out of 24 divers entered in the event. He was the only New England diver to make the final. Returning to the well at night, his 452.25 score in the final earned him the first outright All-American honor of his career. He would add another two days later in three-meter.
These are the fourth total All-American honors of Rohrer's career. He was 10th in both the one-meter (467.30) and three-meter diving (467.40) events at NCAA's last year for honorable mention All-America accolades.
Winget was also in action for Tufts swimming in the 100 butterfly on Thursday, taking 29th place. His preliminary time (49.61) was more than three seconds faster than his qualifying mark (52.76). The time was just 0.12 off the Tufts school record in the event of 49.49 seconds held by teammate William Metcalfe from last season.
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