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Teams: Women's Swimming & Diving: Team
Overview
Information on
Swimming Lessons at Tufts
In her 26th season as coach of the Tufts University women's swimming
and diving program, Nancy Bigelow guides one of the most successful
teams in New England. The Jumbos are members of the competitive New
England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) and annually qualify
swimmers and divers for the NCAA championship meet.
Last year the team finished with a 7-3 record, running its mark in
dual meets to 32-10 over the last five seasons. The team sent four
competitors to the NCAA Championship meet in Houston. Divers Kendall
Swett and Lindsay Gardel earned All-American honors to lead the Jumbos
to a 25th place team finish. Swett also won the NESCAC titles off the 1-
and 3-meter boards, and Chloe Young-Hyman swam two breaststroke records
at the conference championship meet.
The teams success a year ago added to its strong history. The Jumbos
have compiled an impressive 175-63-2 dual meet record since Bigelow took
control of the program in 1982. Thirty-seven competitors have posted
All-American performances at NCAA Championship meets and 14 individuals
have won 48 New England or NESCAC championships during her tenure. The
Jumbos have captured three New England team titles. Bigelow has been
named New England Coach of the Year three times and has also served as
president of the New England Women's Swimming and Diving Association.
Captain of the Penn State team in college, she is currently on the NCAA
swimming and diving rules committee.
The NESCAC is the most competitive small college conference in the
country athletically and academically. At the 2007 NCAA Championship
meet, five NESCAC teams finished among the top 25 in the nation. The
Jumbos finished a solid fifth place out of 11 at the conference
championship meet last winter.
NESCAC is a group of highly selective liberal arts colleges and
universities that share an academics-first philosophy for
intercollegiate athletics. The Tufts team is annually recognized
nationally for its academic accomplishments as well. In 2006-07, their
3.32 cumulative grade point average was among the top schools in the
College Swimming Coaches Association of America's (CSCAA) ranking of
Division III teams. Beth Bishop, a 2006 Tufts graduate, earned a
Fulbright Scholarship and is studying in Germany. Three team members
were selected to the NESCAC All-Academic team last winter. Swett and
Gardel earned Academic All-America recognition.
Located right outside of Boston, Tufts offers a well-rounded
collegiate experience to student-athletes. Within its picturesque
small-college campus, Tufts is a major university with an unprecedented
diversity of programs, exceptional faculty and staff, and bright and
talented students, according to President Lawrence S. Bacow. The
Athletics Department sponsors a varsity program of 28 sports that is
among the most competitive in the NCAAs Division III. Tufts finished
sixth in the 2006 U.S. Sports Academy Directors' Cup, the award
presented annually to the best overall collegiate athletics programs in
the country. The Universitys proximity to a world-class city renowned
for its academic institutions is also a major draw.
Every January the team takes a training trip to a tropical location.
Aruba, Barbados and Hawaii have been recent destinations. The teams
2005 trip became a grand humanitarian effort, as Tufts joined with
several other teams to deliver nearly 5,000 pounds of supplies to
impoverished people in the Dominican Republic. Tufts alumni Ben and Judy
Sands organized the gesture.
The Jumbos will once again look to finish in the top half of NESCAC
in 2007-08. All-Americans Swett and Gardel return to lead a talented
team of divers. The swimmers are deep in the backstroke with the return
of Michelle Caswell, Meredith Cronin and Kayla Burke. Tri-captain Claire
Pigula leads a breaststroke group that includes Katie Swett and Allison
Palomaki. Katie Auerbach and Tia Bassano are the top returnees in the
butterfly, while Katie Swett and tri-captain Renee Nicholas had the
teams top individual medley times last season. Tri-captain Monika Burns
in the back and breast strokes and Emily Japlon in the freestyle will be
other key contributors.
Veteran diving coach Brad Snodgrass was the NCAA Division III Diving
Coach of the Year in 2005. Now in his 21st season coaching with Tufts,
he has developed one of the area's strongest programs. He has coached
several All-American divers during his tenure with the Jumbos. A New
England High School champion who competed collegiately at Maine and
Columbia, Snodgrass is also active in United States Diving, recently
serving as the regional technical director, registrar and treasurer for
New England. Sally Abbott, a 2001 Tufts graduate, and Kate Allery, a
record-setting diver at UMass, will be assistant coaches for diving.
Young-Hyman, a two-time national qualifier and Academic All-American,
will assist Bigelow with the swimmers. Amy Moran, a three-year
All-American and eight-time New England champion for the Jumbos from
1985-88, will also assist with the swimmers.
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