WILLIAMSTOWN – Both senior Roger Gu and junior John LaLime won their second conference titles of the weekend, and the 400 freestyle relay capped the meet with a victory as the Tufts University men's swimming & diving team finished up the 2020 NESCAC Championships at Williams College on Sunday.
Tufts was the runner-up team with 1,797.5 points. It's the third straight year head coach Adam Hoyt's team has been at least second at the meet. Host Williams College won the 2020 conference title with a 1,987.5 total. Amherst finished in third (1,386.5).
Gu concluded his outstanding career at NESCAC's by winning the 100 freestyle in 43.87 seconds and anchoring the 400 free relay on Sunday night. The 100 free time is an NCAA B cut and a Williams College pool record. He added the victory to his first-place in the 50 freestyle (19.96) from Friday. Overall during four years at the NESCAC meet, Gu won five individual titles and was a part of eight relay wins for 13 total conference crowns.
LaLime joined Gu as a double-winner at the 2020 NESCAC's with his 15:38.87 victory in the 1,650 freestyle today. It was also a pool record. LaLime swept the two longest freestyle races at the meet including his 1,000 victory on Saturday (9:22.89). He broke his own school records in both events.
In the final race of the weekend, the Tufts 400 freestyle relay of freshman Peter LaBarge, sophomore Nate Tingen, junior JJ Batt and Gu posted a winning time of 2:59.52. It broke four records, topping the previous NESCAC, conference championship meet, school and pool records. The win was dramatic, as Gu came from behind to edge Amherst (2:59.78). The two squads were the first to go under three minutes in NESCAC meet history. Tufts' time is an NCAA B cut.
Sophomore Tar Tar Jarusinchai updated the Tufts record book with his 2:03.15 for third place in the 200 breaststroke final tonight. He originally broke Morgan Ciliv's Tufts record of 2:04.63 from 2015 with a 2:03.70 in today's preliminaries, and then lowered it with the 2:03.15 that will stand as his NCAA B mark. Tufts had three in the 200 breaststroke final Sunday night as sophomore Michael Gregorace was sixth with an NCAA B mark of 2:04.58, and senior Matt Manfre placed eight in a 2:07.87 touch.
In the 200 backstroke, Tingen earned his second runner-up finish in the backstrokes this weekend with a 1:49.04 swim. He had timed a 1:47.62 in the preliminaries which will serve as his NCAA B cut. Tingen was also second in the 100 back (49.38) on Saturday. Junior Nathan Mitchell also beat the NCAA B standard in Sunday's 200 back preliminaries with a 1:49.45 finish. He was eighth in the final (1:52.76).
LaBarge also swam an NCAA B time of 45.00 for fourth place in the 50 free final tonight. Likewise, freshman Evan Szablewski had an NCAA B time of 15:50.49 in the 1,650 free tonight, scoring third for the Jumbos. Tufts featured five scorers in the top 16 of the 50 free overall, with sophomore Victor Vollbrechthausen (46.52), junior Tyler Tatro (46.92) and freshman Dylan Brown (47.27) also contributing.
The Jumbos received a strong performance by their three freshmen divers this weekend, as each scored among the top eight in both events. Capping it off in the three-meter competition today, Zach Lawrence led the way with a 442.75 score that was fourth overall and an NCAA B mark. Kai Renshaw placed sixth (387.65) and Matt Langley was eighth (332.15).
Freshman Sebastian Cai led four Jumbos scoring in the top 14 for the 200 butterfly on Sunday. His 1:51.47 placed fourth, while junior Lomax Turner took eighth (1:55.32), senior tri-captain Trevor Serman was ninth (1:53.77) and junior John Koster scored 14th (1:54.78).
The Jumbos also competed in a few time trials on Sunday with freshman Joshua Balbi making the most of his opportunity in the 100 butterfly. He notched a 49.16 that was his season-best and an NCAA B cut.
Tufts finished the meet with seven conference titles, seven new school records and 21 NCAA B cuts.
The psych sheet of 2020 NCAA qualifiers is scheduled to be released on March 1.
