Teams: Men's Swimming & Diving: Press Releases

Thursday, February 22, 2007

MEN'S SWIMMING & DIVING LOOKS FOR REPEAT PERFORMANCE AT NESCAC MEET

Mike Kinsella is the top seed in the 50 freestyle entering the NESCAC Championships

MEDFORD -- The Tufts University men's swimming & diving team earned its best-ever finish at the New England Small College Athletic Conference championships last season by taking second place, and this year's squad will look to match that performance. Williams College, the four-time defending NESCAC champions, stand as the team to beat when the meet commences on Friday and runs through Sunday.

The Jumbos enter the 2007 conference championships at Bowdoin College this weekend with several swimmers and relay foursomes among the top eight in their events. Leading that group is senior Mike Kinsella (Hinsdale, IL), who swam the NESCAC's fastest 50 freestyle this season with a time of 21.39 seconds on January 27 in a tri-meet with Wheaton and Bates. The Jumbo 400 freestyle relay's time of 3 minutes, 11.85 seconds is also the top seed heading into the conference meet. The foursome of Kinsella, senior Justin Fanning (Concord, MA), freshman Matt Murphy (Chelmsford, MA) and senior co-captain Greg Bettencourt (West Granby, CT) swam it at MIT on January 20.

Bettencourt is a high seed in almost all of the freestyle events. He is third in the 100 (47.90), third in the 200 (1:43.28), second in the 500 (4:41.22), second in the 1,000 (9:36.09) and second in the 1,650 (9:36.06). He'll only be able to swim in three of those events at NESCACs, a decision the team will have to make.

Freshman Patrick Kinsella (Hinsdale, IL) and his older brother Mike also look to reach the final in some of the freestyle events. Mike is the fourth seed in the 100 (48.11), while Patrick is seventh in the 1,000 (10:04.30) and eighth in the 1,650.

Fanning will lead the Jumbos in the backstroke. He enters the meet as the fourth seed in the 50 (25.24) and is the sixth seed in the 100 (54.55). The Jumbos hope for major breaststroke points from a pair of freshmen, Lawrence Chan (Fresh Meadows, NY) and James Longhurst (Swampscott, MA). Chan is the second seed in both the 50 (27.48) and the 100 (59.68). Longhurst could reach the finals both events as well, with seed times of 28.31 seconds in the 50 and 1:01.10 in the 100. Senior Nathan Cronin (Foxborough, MA) is the seventh seed in the 200 breaststroke (2:15.79).

Cronin is also among the top eight in the 200 individual medley with a 4:21.26 time during the regular season. The Jumbos will need an extraordinary effort to make the finals in the butterfly, with freshman Calvin de Vries (Metuchen, NJ) entering as the best hope with an 11 seed in the 100 (54.31).

The Jumbos figure to rack up major points in the relay. The 800 freestyle (7:05.24) and the 400 medley (3:33.68) teams are both seeded second. The 200 medley (1:36.62) group is third and the 200 freestyle (1:27.08) is fourth. Relay foursomes can be determined on the day that the event is raced.

Freshman Rob Matera (Trumbull, CT) is the lone Tufts entrant in the one- and three-meter diving events, and will have to perform well to score among the top eight.

Along with scoring to assure a high team finish at the NESCAC meet, the Jumbos will be looking for fast qualifying teams to build a team to send to the NCAA Championship meet in Houston March 15-17. Tufts placed 10th as a team at the national meet last season.

#