4x200 Relay Team, WOMEN'S TRACK
The women's indoor track team finished seventh at ECAC Div. III Championships this weekend, earning 30 points and falling just short of NESCAC rivals Williams and Amherst.
While it was not Tufts' best weekend of the season, one bright spot for the squad was the performance of its 4x200-meter relay team, which won its 21-team race, barely eking out a win over Brockport State.
Senior Jess Mactas, sophomores Aubrey Wasser and Halsey Stebbins, and freshman Andrea Ferri ran the race for the Jumbos, who completed their run in 1:46.84, just 0.14 seconds before the Golden Eagles squad, which checked in at 1:47.00. The top five teams in the race were all extremely close, as three other schools--Cabrini, Springfield, and New Jersey City--all finished the race within one second of the Jumbos.
The win was the Jumbos' fourth relay title of the championship season. Tufts runners won both the 4x400 and 4x200 relays at Div. III New Englands two weeks ago, and the Jumbos followed that up with a distance medley relay win at Open New Englands in a race that included squads from all NCAA divisions.
St. Lawrence, whose runners finished 17th in the 4x200, won the ECAC championship, while Cabrini and Frostburg State fell just short, finishing second and third, respectively.
Greg Bettencourt, MEN'S SWIMMING
Senior Greg Bettencourt will close out his prolific college swimming career against the nation's best. On Friday, Bettencourt learned that he will be heading to Houston, Texas for the 2007 NCAA Div. III Swimming and Diving Championship, which will take place March 15-17.
Bettencourt qualified in the 500 freestyle, where his time of 4:36.27 ranked him 16th in the country. Last weekend at the NESCAC Championships hosted by Bowdoin College, Bettencourt swam the preliminary for the national competition. Because he qualified in one event, he will be able to swim in three events total at the NCAA meet. Bettencourt is also on the list for the 200 freestyle and the 1,650 freestyle. His 1:42.45 in the 200 and 16:20.53 in the 1,650 are both ranked 25th nationally. Both times were submitted at the NESCAC meet, where he was the runner-up in the 200 and took fourth place in both the 500 and 1,650.
Bettencourt was one of seven Jumbos who qualified for the NCAA meet last year, where Tufts placed 10th in the country. At the 2006 Nationals, he competed well in several relays for the Jumbos, finishing eighth overall in the 500 freestyle. His preliminary time of 4:32.57 is the Tufts record in the event. Bettencourt was also 13th in the 200 freestyle and 39th in the 100 freestyle at the NCAA meet last March.
