Blue Swimming & Diving Speeds Past Tufts, 179-119

WELLESLEY, Mass. -- The Wellesley College swimming and diving team posted a 179-119 victory over Tufts University on Wednesday evening at Wellesley's Chandler Pool. The win lifts the Blue to 3-1 on the season, while the Jumbos dip to 0-4 with the loss.

Today's Wellesley victory marked the first for the team against Tufts in 13 years. The Blue last came away with a win over the Jumbos on November 29, 2000, when Wellesley topped Tufts 160-140. The teams have competed every year since that meet.

The Blue recorded wins in 11 of the 16 events, led by senior Keelin Nave who picked up three individual victories, and sophomore Dorothy Ren and first-year Leah Furman who each added a pair of wins. Wellesley senior Emma Mrkonic and first-year Sarah May also added individual event victories for the Blue, while the team swept the relay events.

Nave and Furman led Wellesley to a sweep of the freestyle events. Nave grabbed her wins in the 50 (24.87), the 100 (54.19) and the 200 (1:57.52), while Furman was victorious in the 500 (5:17.18) and the 1000 (10:42.11). 

Ren was a winner in the 100-back (1:00.22) and the 100-fly (58.97), while taking second in the 200-IM (2:15.06). Mrkonic picked up a victory in the 200-back (2:15.47), and was second behind Ren in the 200-back (1:01.52). May rounded out Wellesley's individual winners with a victory in the 200-fly (2:11.68), while also taking second in the 100-fly (59.27) and third in the 200-IM (2:17.20).

In the relay events, Wellesley went 1-2 in the 200-medley relay, and also won the 400-free relay. In the medley, Wellesley's team of first-year Sharon Wu, sophomore Charlotte Harris, May, and Nave, touched first in 1:50.31. They were followed by the Blue team of Mrkonic, sophomore Erin Yang, Ren, and senior Mariam Amirkhanashvili, who finished in 1:51.45. In the free relay, Wellesley's Amirkhanashvili, Mrkonic, Furman, and sophomore Ieva Galinyte used a late push to out-swim the Jumbos. The Blue recorded a final time of 3:43.48.

Aside from the 11 victories, Wellesley also had several athletes record top-three finishes at the meet, including taking the top three spots in the 100-back and the 200-back, and the top four spots in the 200-fly. Other members of the Blue recording top-three finishes included Galinyte, Amirkhanashvili, Wu, Harris, sophomore Theresa Mitchell, junior Gabby Cooper-Vespa, and senior Gabriela Kovacikova.

Galinyte finished second in the 200-free (2:00.14) and the 500-free (5:19.72), while Amirkhanashvili was second in both the 50-free (25.66) and the 100-free (55.90). Harris was second in both the 100-breast (1:09.03) and the 200-breast (2:32.19), and also finished fourth in the 200-IM (2:19.79).

Elsewhere, Mitchell was second in the 200-fly (2:17.63), while Wu was third in both the 100-back (1:00.22) and the 200-back (2:17.16). Kovacikova grabbed her points with a second place finished in the 200-back (2:15.54) and a third place finish in the 200-fly (2:22.09), while Cooper-Vespa was second in both diving events, with a 220.26 on the 2-meter and a 227.27 on the 3-meter.

Rounding out the individual Wellesley highlights, Blue senior Anne Hamilton was fourth in the 1000-free with a time of 11:27.41, while junior Grace Bachman was fourth in the 200-fly, recording a 2:22.21.

Tufts was paced by seniors Jenny Hu and Sami Bloom who accounted for all five of the Jumbos victories. Hu won the 100-breast (1"07/03), the 200-breast (2:26.27) and the 200-IM (2:12.99), while Bloom was victories in both diving events. On the 1-meter board, she hit a 247.72, and on the 3-meter, she recorded a 253.95.

Both Wellesley and Tufts are back in action at this weekend's MIT Winter Invitational. The teams will compete both Friday and Saturday, and a full schedule of events is online at: http://wellesleyblue.com/sports/wswimdive/2013-14/releases/201312046m0vn2