WATERVILLE, ME (February 21, 2026) - Senior
Armaan Sikka won the 100 butterfly final and sophomore
Ron Lyubman broke the school record in the 200 freestyle as the Tufts University men's swimming & diving team maintained its lead at the 2026 NESCAC Championships on Saturday.
Sikka's time of 48.23 second in the 100 fly won the event, giving him the second individual title of his NESCAC career and the sixth overall (relays included). Tufts' record-holder in the event (47.67), he won the 100 fly in 2024 as well. Tonight's winning mark is an NCAA B cut which ranks 20th nationally as of Saturday evening.ch
The Jumbos scored big in the 100 fly overall with three individuals placing in the top six. Along with Sikka, sophomore
Max Gerke was second (48.38) and freshman
Adam Li was sixth (48.73). Both of their marks are lifetime bests, and Gerke's is an NCAA B qualifier that puts him fourth in Tufts history.
Lyubman's school record in 200 free was a 1:37.62 that placed third in the final tonight. He had been just two-tenths of a second off the school record with his time of 1:37.89 in the 200 freestyle preliminaries, then broke it in the final. His time is an NCAA B mark that is in the vicinity of 15th nationally.
Junior
Rafae Shafi, who previously held the 200 free record (1:37.69), had a 1:39.05 prelims mark today that was a B cut, though it did not improve his NCAA ranking time (1:38.51). He placed fifth in the final with a 1:39.23 touch. The Jumbos had five swimmers among the top 20 for the event, including sophomore
Sam Harris (1:40.26 lifetime best for 17th), freshman
Harry Belbot (1:41.13 for 19th) and freshman
Aidan Cole (1:41.19 for 20th).
Freshman
JJ Arbuckle's final in the 400 individual medley highlighted that race for the Jumbos. He swam a 3:57.48 time for third in the race, which earned him #3 all-time at Tufts. The lifetime best mark is also an NCAA B cut for Arbuckle. Again with great depth scoring, five Jumbos were in the top 17. Sophomore
Timmy Brady swam a 3:58.07 NCAA B mark in the prelims and then a 3:58.44 in the final (fourth place). Freshman
Seth Graber hit his PR in the prelims (3:59.60) before taking sixth in the final (4:01.77). Seniors
Nate Pfeffer (4:01.00 lifetime best) and
Connor Townson (4:00.78) scored ninth and 17th, respectively.
The Jumbos had started Saturday evening's finals by placing second in the 200 medley relay with a 1:27.78 time. Freshman
Nico Ogawa led off with a 22.62 in the 50 backstroke that was his career best. Junior
Will Kaminski, Sikka and Gerke followed, helping the team record the NCAA B cut that is the #11 mark in the nation and fifth all-time at Tufts. The B relay of freshman
Spencer Thompson, junior
Jack Nussbaum, freshman
Isaac Shang and sophomore
Campbell McFall scored 13th (1:29.87).
Freshmen Ogawa and Thompson both got into the championship final for the 100 backstroke. Thompson swam 49.16 for sixth in the final, which is a lifetime best that improves his national qualifying mark. It ranks him sixth at Tufts. Ogawa was seventh in the 100 back final (49.46).
For the 100 breaststroke, Nussbaum, Kaminski and junior
Evan Wang scored for Tufts. Nussbaum was 10th in the final (55.65), whale Kaminski and Wang hit lifetime best marks while earning the 12th (56.03) and 19th (56.64) spots.
Diving finished on Saturday with the three-meter event. Junior
Jay Wilkinson earned a 507.20 score (NCAA B qualifier) for third place, while junior
Elias Brandt score fifth (421.35).
In the 1000 freestyle event today, Lyubman race to ninth-place mark of 9:29.40. Junior
Dan Godino's 9:30.20 time was 10th.
Sikka also swam a 21.78 in a 50 butterfly time trial Saturday morning, his career-best and making him second all-time in the event for the Jumbos.
In the team standings, Tufts holds a slim advantage with 1198 points. Williams College is 30 points back in second place (1168). Amherst College is the third-place team with an 894 score.
The fourth and final day of the NESCAC Men's Championships on Sunday will have preliminaries starting at 9 AM and finals in the evening at 5:30 PM.
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--JUMBOS--
