Teams: Men's Swimming & Diving: Press Releases

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

NINE JUMBOS NAMED TO ALL-NESCAC MEN'S SWIMMING TEAM

Justin Fanning was All-NESCAC in three events for Tufts

MEDFORD -- Nine members of Tufts University men's swimming & diving team had top three finishes, either individually or with relays, at the 2007 New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Championships hosted by Bowdoin College over the weekend (Feb. 23-25). As a result of their top three placements, those Jumbos were named to the All-NESCAC team today.

Earning the recognition were seniors Greg Bettencourt (West Granby, CT/Westminster), Justin Fanning (Concord, MA/Concord-Carlisle) and Mike Kinsella (Hinsdale, IL/Hinsdale Central), sophomores Ben Mitchell (Normandy Park, WA/Mount Rainier), Matt Murphy (Chelmsford, MA/Chelmsford) and Andrew Shields (Norwalk, CT/Norwalk), and freshmen Lawrence Chan (Fresh Meadows, NY/Stuyvesant), Gene Kurtysh (Pittsburgh, PA/Fox Chapel) and Rob Matera (Trumbull, CT/Trumbull).

Fanning and Shields were All-NESCAC in three events. Fanning had a third-place effort in the 50 backstroke, finishing in 24.38 seconds. He also swam legs with the 800 freestyle relay that was second with a NCAA B-cut time of 6 minutes, 56.89 seconds, and with 200 medley relay that swam a time of 1:35.23 for third place. In addition to being part of those two relays, Shields was also part of the 200 freestyle relay that was NESCAC runner-up in a 1:23.83 time, also an NCAA B-cut.

Bettencourt was the runner-up in the 200 freestyle, swimming an NCAA B-cut time of 1:42.45, and also was the anchor leg of the 800 freestyle relay. Chan won the 50 breaststroke in 26.83 seconds and was second in the 200 medley group. Matera, in one of the best performances by the Jumbos at the meet, took second in the three-meter diving event with 421.35 points.

Kinsella earned two All-NESCAC awards as part of the 200 freestyle and 200 medley relays. Kurtysh (800 freestyle relay), Mitchell (200 freestyle relay) and Murphy (200 freestyle relay) each earned a single All-NESCAC honor.

Head Coach Adam Hoyt's Tufts men took third place at the NESCAC meet, scoring 1,306 total points. That was just two points behind second-place Amherst. Williams, whose senior Steve Spinelli was Swimmer of the Meet, and whose coach Steven Kuster was Swimming Coach of the Year, won the conference championship with 2,019.5 points.

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