MIDDLEBURY, Vt. – The Tufts University women's swimming & diving team set new records in five events and posted five top-three finishes on the first full day of the 2020 NESCAC Championships hosted by Middlebury College on Friday.
Head coach Adam Hoyt's Jumbos are in second place as a team with 714 points. Defending champion Williams College is first with a 754 score, while third-place Amherst (593) and Bates (529) round out the top four.
The Jumbos had five swimmers score in the top 11 of the 500 freestyle today and each recorded an NCAA B cut in either the prelims or finals. Freshman Claire Brennan broke the school record in the event twice, first with her 4:56.49 in the prelims and then with a 4:55.51 for fourth place in the final. Sophomore Mary Hufziger timed 4:56.34 for seventh place, junior Amy Socha had a 4:56.91 in the preliminaries (she was eighth in the final at 5:03.89), freshman Chloe Deveney swam 4:58.66 for 10th place and freshman Katelin Isakoff was 11th in 4:58.73.
The Jumbos broke two long-standing records in the 200 freestyle relay. Their third-place time of 1:34.53 by freshman Elle Morse, senior tri-captain Brooke Bernstein, Socha and Hufziger was a new record in the event. Morse's 23.67 in the lead leg was also a Jumbo record in the 50 freestyle. Both times were NCAA B marks. Morse's record replaced Samantha Sliwinski's seven-year old mark of 23.93 from 2013, while the relay record tops the old 1:36.00 time from 2012.
Morse also had one of three Tufts runner-up finishes for the day. In the 50 freestyle prelims she had broke the record in the event with a 23.80 prior to lowering it in the 200 free relay. She then placed second in the finals of the 50 free with a 23.75 time. Morse was also the top Tufts finisher (sixth) in the 50 breaststroke (29.85).
Senior tri-captain Grace Goetcheus also broke a record and had a second-place swim individually. Her 2:04.43 time for the 200 individual medley preliminaries broke her own school record in the event and was an NCAA B mark. She then placed second in the 200 IM final at 2:04.76. Junior Sasha Fong was second for Tufts in the 50 butterfly today with a 25.01 touch.
The 400 medley relay group of sophomore Emma Donchi, junior Lily Kurtz, Socha and Hufziger swam a 3:47.61 for a new school record, an NCAA B mark and third place in the race. The Jumbos' other entry in the event – Goetcheus, Morse, Fong and Brennan – also had an NCAA B time of 3:51.11. Donchi individually was fifth in the 50 backstroke (26.44) to lead the Jumbos.
Tufts received a huge boost from their divers, with three scoring in the top eight of the one-meter competition tonight. Junior Amber Chong was fourth (432.90), freshman Alaina Kosko took sixth (423.50) and freshman Sydney Ho was eighth (374.25). All three hit NCAA B marks during the day, with Kosko (426.35) and Ho (399.80) earning their best scores in the trials.
In all, the Jumbos recorded 13 NCAA B marks today.
The teams return to the pool tomorrow morning at 10 am for the preliminaries. Saturday's finals are scheduled to begin at 5:50 pm.
