Teams: Men's Swimming & Diving: Press Releases

Thursday, February 27, 2003

MEN'S SWIMMING & DIVING HEADS TO WILLIAMS FOR NESCAC MEET
Written by Julie Fox

MEDFORD -- The Tufts University Men's Swimming & Diving team ended their dual meet season with a stellar 8-1 record.  Head Coach Don Megerle's team hopes to continue that success in their final full-squad meet this weekend, February 28 to March 1,  when the team competes in the NESCAC Championships at Williams College.

Tufts will enter several swimmers who are among the top seeds in the meet.  Senior tri-captain Ed Edson (Rochester, MN) is ranked third in the NESCAC in the 200 Freestyle with a time of 1 minute, 46.30 seconds.  He trails leader Will Cunningham of Williams by less than a second.  Edson also looks to improve to at least 1:43.69, the provisional qualifying time for nationals.

Another strong performer for the Jumbos should be junior Tyler Duckworth (Burnsville, MN), who is ranked second in the 200 Breaststroke.  Duckworth, who holds the school-record in this event with a time of 2:07.72, recorded his season-high time of 2:11.77 on January 18 against NESCAC rival Wesleyan University.  He is two and a half seconds behind first-ranked Mike Pohorylo of Amherst College, and less than two seconds behind the national provisional qualifying time of 2:09.99.  He finished 19th in the event last year at nationals.

Sophomore Seth Baron (Dallas, TX) should have a strong meet for the Jumbos.  He enters the weekend with the fifth-best 100 Butterfly time in the NESCAC (54.12) and the third-best 100 Individual Medley time (56.65).  Baron is three seconds off the leader in the 100 Butterfly and just over two seconds behind the national provisional qualifying time of 51.89 seconds.  In the 100 IM Baron is almost two seconds behind the leader.

Junior Jamie Meyers (Bernardsville, NJ) goes into this weekend's meet ranked third in the 50 Backstroke with a time of 25.33 seconds.  He trails leader Rick Estacio of Amherst by less than a second and will have to shave almost four seconds off his time to meet the national provisional qualifying mark of 21.39 seconds.

Sophomore Michael Rochette (Cumberland, RI) is ranked second in the 50 Breaststroke with a time of 28.23 seconds, less than a second behind leader Pohorylo.  In the 50 Butterfly, freshman Brett Baker (Englewood, CO) sits at fifth with a time of 24.69 seconds.  That time is less than a second behind leader David Hawkins of Middlebury College.

Senior diver Connell Cloyd (Memphis, TN) has been having a solid season and looks to have a strong showing at NESCACs.  He is currently ranked fourth in the 1-meter diving event with a score of 275.00 points.  Teammate David Liebenstein (Hewlett, NY) is right behind him, ranked fifth with a score of 245.00 points.  Leader Ben Hopkins of Amherst recorded a score of 310.15 points.  Cloyd is also ranked fifth in the 3-meter diving event with 243.15 points.  Hopkins again leads this event, with a score of 326.85 points.

The Jumbos finished in fourth place out of eleven teams at the Championships last year.  Top performers in that meet were: Rochette, who finished third in the 50 yard Breaststroke; Duckworth, who finished third in the 400 yard IM; and junior Aeric Solow (North Pole, AK), who finished third in the 100 yard IM.

#