MIDDLETOWN, CT (February 18, 2023) – The Tufts University 200 medley relay broke school, meet and overall conference records with their 1:27.58 finish tonight at the NESCAC Men's Swimming & Diving Championships hosted by Wesleyan University.
The Jumbo foursome of
Eric Lundgren,
Emmett Adams,
Armaan Sikka and
Peter LaBarge won the race over Williams College's second-place time of 1:28.60. Lundgren's 22.13 split in the 50 backstroke to begin the relay for Tufts also broke his own school record.
Tufts broke four records overall on Saturday as they remained in second place at the meet. The Jumbos have accumulated 1184.5 points and trail only Williams, who has a 1362 score through Saturday. Amherst College is third with 865.5 points.
The day started with Adams setting a new school record in the 100 breaststroke with his 55.61 NCAA 'B' cut time in the preliminaries. In the finals session tonight, he was seventh overall (55.86) with Jumbos
Willie Xu in eighth (56.34),
Darrien Johnsen in 12th (56.40) and
Luke Isayiw in 13th (56.67).
Sikka also set a new school standard in the 100 butterfly with his time of 47.67 seconds for second place in the final. Schreier, whose record Sikka broke, tied for fourth in the final at 48.81. Both swimmers hit NCAA 'B' marks today.
Tim Chou won the consolation final (ninth overall) with a 49.93 finish, while
Sebastian Cai also scored with his 50.81 final for 21st.
Diver
Zach Lawrence was the runner-up in today's three-meter competition. He compiled 451.65 points, well ahead of his 407.30 score from the prelims that had been third earlier in the day.
Lundgren added a second-place performance in the 100 backstroke, where his 47.77 final was an NCAA 'B' mark.
Jack Madden was also a strong fourth in the event with an NCAA 'B' qualifier time of 49.12 seconds. The Jumbos had three in the top seven as
Vedant Bapna took seventh (49.71).
Three Tufts swimmers were in the top five in the 400 IM, and five scored among the top 16. First-year
Connor Townson led the group with his 3:57.62 for second place in the final (NCAA 'B' cut).
James Kim impressively moved up from eighth in the morning's prelims to third in tonight's final (4:01.97). Fifth place went to first-year
Nate Pfeffer and his 4:03.61 finish.
Brian Uribe in 12th (4:04.89) and
Bora Calis 16th (4:07.13) helped Tufts score major points in the event.
Evan Szablewski was the only Jumbo in the 1000 freestyle today and he placed sixth with his 9:30.58 touch.
Eli Houlton led five Jumbos in Saturday's 200 freestyle. He won the consolation final (ninth overall) in a 1:40.39 mark. LaBarge swam 1:42.82 for 15th,
Will Stearns took 16th in 1:44.35 and
Charlie Duffy finished 17th at 1:41.46.
The 200 medley relay win to close Saturday's action was the Jumbos' third victory of the meet, and they have set new records in nine events so far. The 200 medley B relay of Madden, Isayiw, Schreier and Duffy were 13th in the race with a 1:30.33 that joined the A foursome with an NCAA 'B' cut.
The 2023 NESCAC Men's Swimming & Diving Championships close on Sunday with the 1,650 freestyle, 200 backstroke, 100 freestyle, 200 breaststroke, 200 butterfly and 400 freestyle relay.
--JUMBOS--
