WATERVILLE, Maine - In a remarkable back-and-forth battle, the Tufts University women's swimming & diving team defeated Williams College on Sunday to win the Jumbo program's first New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) championship.
The Ephs held a slim 1265.5 to 1258 lead over the Jumbos heading into Sunday. Tufts would take a 1505 to 1474.5 advantage after the 100 freestyle. The Ephs would get the lead back following the 200 breaststroke, but the Jumbos were strong in the 200 butterfly, three-meter diving and the 400 freestyle relay to overtake the Ephs and win the conference title. The final score was Tufts 1809, Williams 1758.5. The Ephs had won 19 of the 20 NESCAC championships since the meet began in 2001.
Tufts took four of the top eight spots in the 200 butterfly to close to within 1679.5 to 1672 behind Williams. Katelin Isakoff led the Jumbos in the event with a 2:03.13 time. Lara Wujciak was close behind in a 2:03.33 time for sixth place.
The Jumbos added a third-place in three-meter diving by Alaina Kosko (452.15) and a ninth-place by Sydney Ho (373.60) to pass Williams and lead 1719 to 1702.5.
Tufts then finished off the victory by winning the 400 freestyle relay in a conference, meet and school record time of 3:22.46. The Jumbo foursome was Jillian Cudney, Isakoff, Claire Brennan and Mary Hufziger. They were faster than the previous NESCAC overall record of 3:22.71 by Williams in 2012, the former meet record of 3:23.84 by Williams from 2016 and the old Jumbo mark of 3:24.74 in 2020.
Earlier in Sunday's finals, Katie Shelburne broke Tufts' 13-year old school record in the 1,650 freestyle to begin the night. Her 17:07.68 was faster than the 17:11.91 by Megan Kono in 2009. Allison Cremer took fourth in the event and Sahar Mumtaz was eighth, with their 17:15.74 and 17:21.21 times joining Shelburne's as NCAA B marks.
Abby Claus was then the runner-up in the 200 backstroke. She had broken the school record in the trials Sunday morning with a 2:00.16, well under the previous Jumbo mark of 2:02.92 by Grace Goetcheus from 2020. Her runner-up finish in the final came in a 2:00.14 time.
Jillian Cudney followed by breaking the 100 freestyle Tufts record, winning the event with a 50.52 time. She had originally erased teammate Claire Brennan's 2020 record of 51.07 seconds in the trials Sunday morning with a 50.74 mark. Cudney's win and a third-place by Claire Brennan (50.63) led four Jumbos who placed in the top 13. It was in this event that Tufts took over the lead in team scoring 1505 to Williams' 1474.5.
Abby Miller led the Jumbos in the 200 breaststroke in 10th place with a 2:22.76 mark, in which the Ephs regained the lead 1679.5 to 1672. However, Tufts would win out in the end.
With four records today, the Tufts team broke 16 team records overall at the meet. They set three new meet records and two conference marks. Jumbos won five events.
Amherst College placed third in the 11-team meet, followed by Bates and Bowdoin to round out the top five.
