Tufts Men's 200 Free Relay Breaks School Record, Places 7th at NCAA's Thursday

INDIANAPOLIS (March 19, 2026) – The Tufts University 200 freestyle relay broke its own school record while placing seventh nationally to highlight the Jumbos' Thursday at the NCAA Division III Men's Swimming & Diving Championships.

Reaching the NCAA championship final in the 200 freestyle relay for the first time since 2019, Tufts swam a 1:19.40 mark by the foursome of freshman

Isaac Shang, junior

Will Kaminski, sophomore

Max Gerke and senior

Armaan Sikka. Seventh in the race, it's Tufts' best finish in the event since 2019. The group lowered the school record of 1:19.62 that the exact same foursome swam at the NESCAC Championships earlier this year. Today's time is also lower than the NESCAC record heading into the national meet (1:19.47), though Bates College established a new conference mark with their 1:18.94 time for fifth place today. Tufts had posted a 1:19.71 time in the preliminaries to get into the final, a time that was just 0.09 off the school record.

The seventh-place finish earns first team All-American honors for all four Jumbos. For the anchor Sikka, it's his 14th career All-American award which ties him for fourth all-time at Tufts. Eight of those are first team honors. Kaminski's award is his second (one first team), and it's the first in the careers of Shang and Gerke.

With the 24 points scored for the 200 free relay's seventh-place finish, Tufts now has 28 points as a team for 16th place at the NCAA meet.

For the second straight day, junior

Rafae Shafi just missed the consolation final in an event. Yesterday it was the 500 freestyle, and today it was the 200 freestyle. His time of 1:38.52 was 17th, just one spot out of the top 16. His mark was 0.19 behind the 16th-place time (1:38.33). Jumbo sophomore

Ron Lyubman was 40th in the event (1:42.53).

The Jumbos also had a pair in the 100 butterfly today. Gerke's time of 48.32 seconds was his lifetime best and placed 20th nationally. He was just 0.11 out of the top 16. Sikka was close behind in 48.50 seconds for 24th place.

Day three of the NCAA Championships on Friday has the Tufts men scheduled to compete in the 200 medley relay, the 100 breaststroke, one-meter diving and the 800 freestyle relay.

--JUMBOS--