MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – Tufts women's swimming and diving broke three more program records and posted six NCAA B cuts on day three of the NESCAC Championships at Wesleyan University Saturday.
Entering the final day of the meet on Sunday, the Jumbos remain in second place of the 11 teams at NESCAC's with 1,063.5 points. Williams is still in first with a score of 1,331 points and Amherst is in third with 947 points. The Jumbos have never placed better than third in the previous 18 conference championships.
Tufts first-year Mary Hufziger started the record-setting in the preliminaries by breaking teammate Amy Socha's two-day old 200 freestyle record (1:52.63) by posting a time of 1:51.27 Saturday morning. Hufziger's preliminary time was an NCAA-B cut mark and she went on to place fourth in the final on Saturday night (1:51.34).
In the night portion of the meet, the Jumbos opened the action with a splash as their "A" unit of first-year Jeanette Khowong, sophomore Lily Kurtz, sophomore Sasha Fong, and first-year Hannah Spencer clocked a time of 1:43.93 in the 200 medley relay. That mark, which was an NCAA-B cut time, broke the previous record that had been held since the 2012 NESCACs (1:45.83). Tufts "B" foursome of first-year Emma Donchi, junior Kate Brown, Socha, and junior Brooke Bernstein placed first among the "B" units with their 1:45.71 mark.
Also in the evening, Tufts sophomore Sook-Hee Evans recorded a time of 10:23.15 in the 1,000 freestyle event, which broke Megan Kono's 2011 record of 10:24.33. Evans' mark was fifth in the 1,000 free final.
In the 100 butterfly final, the Jumbos had two in the top six with NCAA B times. Socha recorded a 56.09 mark that placed fourth overall. The time is second in Tufts history. Fong's 56.29 in the 100 fly final - third all-time at Tufts - was sixth at the meet. Both had hit NCAA B marks in the preliminaries as well.
Another NCAA B time from the preliminaries came from Kurtz, who went 1:04.49 in the 100 breaststroke. It's the second-fastest time in Jumbo history. She nearly matched it with a 1:04.56 in the final for third place (All-NESCAC). Brown (1:05.98) finished first in the consolation final of the 100 breaststroke.
In the 400 individual medley final, sophomore Abby Claus swam an NCAA B time of 4:29.19 earning her fifth place. First-year Juliette Bichon won the consolation final of the 400 IM with her time of 4:34.63.
Donchi finished fifth overall in the 100 backstroke with her time of 57.46 seconds. Junior Grace Goetcheus recorded another consolation win for the Jumbos in the event, as she tied with Hannah Johnson from Bates with identical touches of 57.89 seconds.
Through three days at the meet, Tufts has established 11 new school records and nothced 13 NCAA B marks.
Tufts enters the final day of NESCAC's tomorrow starting at 10 am.
Written By Athletic Communications Intern Bryan Costello
