MIDDLEBURY, VT - Tufts junior Amanda Gottschalk and freshman Colleen Doolan both broke school records, earned runner-up finishes and had NCAA B cut times on the final day of the NESCAC Women's Swimming & Diving Championships Sunday at Middlebury College.
Gottschalk's 2:19.05 in the 200 breaststroke smashed the year-old Tufts record of 2:21.94 set by teammate Anna Kimura last season. Doolan followed in the next event with a 2:03.77 in the 200 butterfly to break Christine Garvey's 2:04.74 previous school mark from 2013. The second-place finishes earned by both were the best for Tufts at the 2016 conference meet and earned both Jumbos All-Conference accolades.
Finishing the weekend with two school records and a pair of NCAA B cut times, Gottschalk was Tufts' leading performer. On Saturday, her 4:29.79 in the 400 individual medley final was a school record and NCAA B cut which placed fourth at the meet. She broke the 13-year old school record of 4:30.58 set by Mika Sumiyoshi in 2003. Gottschalk had started the meet on Friday with a 2:07.54 for eighth place in the 200 IM.
The Jumbos broke five school records overall during the NESCAC meet. Freshman Caroline McCormick established two new backstroke marks. Her 26.86 for fourth place in the 50 backstroke on Friday broke Samantha Sliwinski's 27.37 record from 2012. McCormick was fourth in the race, just missing All-NESCASC honors. On Saturday, she had a 58.13 in the preliminaries of the 100 backstroke that surpassed Sliwinski's 59.36 from 2012. McCormick was seventh in the final with a time of 58.82 seconds.
Tufts finished seventh overall at the conference championship for the third straight year. They totaled a 720 score. Williams College won the 2016 championship with 2,045 points. Amherst was second at 1,343 and Bates took third with a 1,317.5 total.
The Jumbos had four top-eight finishes in the relays. They closed Friday's competition with the 400 medley relay of McCormick, Gottschalk, Doolan, and sophomore Jess Lee placing sixth with a 3:56.74 time. The Jumbos then started Saturday's finals with a sixth-place in the 200 medley relay as McCormick, junior Sarah Elghor, Lee, and junior Sophia Lin combined for a 1:46.74 time in the final. McCormick's 27.07 50 backstroke led off the relay.
Tufts was eighth in the 200 freestyle relay to open the action on Friday with a foursome of Doolan, Lee, senior tri-captain Sarah Mahoney, and Lin timing 1:37.39. Lin swam a 23.92 in the anchor leg. The Jumbos closed Saturday with an eighth-place in the 800 freestyle relay (7:49.83). Mahoney, Doolan, freshman Alexandra Good and freshman Maddie Maider were the foursome. Doolan's 1:56.03 was the fastest 200 leg of the group.
Junior diver Kylie Reiman posted two top-eight performances. Sunday's three-meter event saw Reiman take sixth (375.30), matching her career-best finish in the event. She had a 410.10 score in the preliminaries. Reiman finished eighth in one-meter diving on Friday. Her 365.15 in the preliminaries was the better of her two scores.
Kimura added a pair of top-10 marks for Tufts. On Saturday she was 10th overall (1:06.41) in the 100 breaststroke. On Sunday she contributed to Tufts' best event of the weekend finishing eighth behind Gottschalk's second in the 200 breaststroke with a 2:23.75 time.
The Jumbos will now wait to hear if any of their NCAA B marks qualify for the NCAA Championshps March 16-19 in Greensboro, North Carolina. Reiman will be in action at the NCAA Zone Diving meet hosted by Wellesley College February 26-27.
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