GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Tufts University men's swimming 200 freestyle relay finished as the national runner-up on the second day of the 2019 NCAA Division III Championships Thursday.
The second-place finish is the best in an NCAA relay event in Tufts men's swimming history. The foursome of junior Roger Gu, senior Kingsley Bowen, junior Costa Camerano and sophomore JJ Batt swam a school- and NESCAC-record 1:20.66 to finish behind only national champion Emory (1:19.99). Tufts was just 0.01 in front of third-place Kenyon (1:20.67) in an exciting race.
Tufts' national qualifying mark of 1:21.21 in the event that won the NESCAC title with Gu, Camerano, sophomore Lomax Turner and Batt was the previous school and conference record. That foursome swam 1:21.75 in the preliminaries Thursday morning for eighth place. In the final Thursday night, Bowen substituted for Turner. Gu – who won the 50 freestyle national championship on Wednesday night with a 19.49 – swam a 19.53 lead-off leg.
The relay All-American honor (top eight) is the sixth for Gu, the fifth for Bowen, the third for Camerano and the first for Batt.
At the other end of Thursday's NCAA meet schedule Tufts placed 10th in the 400 medley relay final, which closed the day's action. They had just missed out on a spot in the championship final with a 3:17.93 time in the preliminaries for ninth place. The foursome of freshman Nate Tingen, freshman Tar Tar Jarusinchai, Bowen and Gu improved their time in the final to 3:16.93.
The finish gained honorable mention All-American honors for the four Jumbos. For their careers, Gu now has four honorable mention relay awards and Bowen has three. It was the first career All-American award of any kind for Tingen and Jarusinchai.
Bowen was also 22nd in the 100 butterfly today (49.26) after entering the meet ranked 44th in the event with a 51.76 season-best. Camerano also raced in the 100 fly (50.76). Sophomore Tyler Tatro competed in the 200 freestyle with a 1:42.02 finish.
With the combined 48 points scored by Tufts' relays today, the Jumbos now have a 92 total after two days for seventh place in the team standings. Denison is first overall with a 305.5 score.
In the 100 backstroke tomorrow, the Jumbos will have Bowen, Tingen and sophomore Nathan Mitchell entered. They will also compete in the 800 freestyle relay.
The national championship meet is being held in Greensboro, North Carolina at the Greensboro Aquatic Center.
