Women's Swimming & Diving Set for 2012 NESCAC Championship Meet at Wesleyan This Weekend

MEDFORD - While Amherst and Williams are the favorites for the top two finishes at the 2012 NESCAC Women's Swimming & Diving Championships to be held at Wesleyan this weekend (Feb. 17-19), the Tufts Jumbos are among a handful of teams who will battle for third place.

Jumbo coach Nancy Bigelow hopes all 24 members of the team's NESCAC traveling squad will swim in one of the final heats in their events. Tufts was third at the meet last season, matching its best-ever finish of the 2000's decade.

Several Jumbos are strong candidates to place among the top eight at the competitive meet. Tufts is particularly strong in the freestyles, where senior co-captain Courtney Adams (Lake Forest, IL) and first-year Kathryn Coniglio (Branchburg, NJ) are potential finalists in the 100 and 200. Coniglio, whose strongest event is the 100, should also score high in the 50 free, while classmate Samantha Sliwinski (Weymouth, MA) is a hopeful in the 50 and 100 freestyles.

The Jumbos will be a big presence the butterfly events as well. Sophomore Mia Greenwald (Park City, UT) has top three capability in the 50 and 100, while she is also entered in the 200. Adams is a finalist candidate in the 50.

Breaststrokers Ellen Gage (Storrs, CT) and Jenny Hu (Oakland, CA), both sophomores, should combine for big points. Gage could be a finalist in all three breaststrokes, while Hu is stronger in the shorter distances (50 and 100).

Diving is another area where Tufts has a talented duo, with senior Kelly Flanagan (Boxborough, MA) and sophomore Sami Bloom (Wilton, CT) possessing the ability to score among the top eight in both the one- and three-meter events.

Junior Christine Garvey (West Chester, PA) adds top-eight potential in the 500 freestyle and 400 individual medley.

Coach Bigelow also hopes to get top-five finishes from three freestyle releays. Coniglio, Sliwinski, Adams and either Paulia Ziolek (Londonderry, NH) or Greenwald are expected to answer the call in the both the 200 and 400. The 800 foursome is looking like Coniglio, Adams, Garvey and junior Lizz Grainger (Nashville, TN).

Wesleyan Unviersity, with assistance from collegeswimming.com, will offer live results for the 2012 NESCAC meet. The hosts will also provide a video webcast of each night's finals. The links to access this live coverage are as follows:

Live results - www.collegeswimming.us/results/18550/

Video - http://wescast.wesleyan.edu/

Read the NESCAC Championship Preview here!

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