Women make waves to NESCAC third place

Author: Sarah Polling-Leuhrman

The Middlebury women's swimming and diving team ended their season with a remarkable performance this past weekend at the first NESCAC Championship swim meet ever to be held in the Middlebury Natatorium. Though they placed third with 1,337 points behind Williams, NESCAC champions since 1987, with 1,729 points, and Amherst, with 1,431.50 points, the Panthers can be proud of a successful weekend full of record-shattering swimming, "as this became the fastest NESCAC Championship in conference history," said Head Coach Peter Solomon. Though only 24 swimmers suited up for the event, the entire team turned out in their Pink Panthers flair to cheer their teammates on against the seven other teams present for the competition.

Star swimmers Marika Ross '08 and Sara Cowie '08 were the team's highest scorers for the weekend, Cowie tying for first place with 96 points and Ross for fourth place with 94 points. Both swimmers performed better than they have all season, each collecting multiple individual first place wins and contributing strong relay performances. Altogether, Middlebury's first-years scored by far the most points of any other freshmen class (456 to Williams' 336 and Amherst's 295). The weekend began with Cowie's first place win in the 500 yard free event on Friday evening, her time of 5:02.64 earning her an NCAA "A" qualification and setting a pool record. Saturday, she placed first and posted the meet record of 10:21.04, another pool record, in the 1000 free event, and Sunday she achieved another NCAA "A" cut in the 1650 free with her winning time of 17:19.50.

Ross's stellar performance brought her three individual victories over the course of the weekend, all setting pool records and NESCAC Championship Meet records and all three times qualifying as NCAA "A" cuts. Saturday she won the 200 yard IM in 2:04.98 and the 400 yard IM in 4:29.71, and she won the 200 fly in 2:03.09 on Sunday, breaking a NESCAC conference record.

Other notable individual swimmers included sprinter Barbara Van der Veer '07, who won third place in the 100 yard free and fourth place in the 50 yard fly and the 50 yard free and Anna Flores '08, who picked up a third place win in the 50 yard breaststroke and broke a school record.

The Panthers' relay teams delivered strong performances throughout the weekend; Van der Veer, Ross, Liz Rice '07 and Lauren King '05 winning second place in the 200 yard free and a NCAA "B" qualification with their time of 1:36.51. Also picking up NCAA "B" recognition was the 200 medley relay team, Van der Veer, Flores, Rice and Becca Reingold '07, who won fourth place in their event. More remarkable still were Van der Veer, Rice, Ross and Pam Chatikavanij '08 and their third place win and NCAA "A" time of 3:31.50 in the 400 free relay. "I don't think I've ever had so many of our swimmers perform so well in a championship meet before," said Solomon. "It seemed like every time someone got up on the blocks that they did a personal best time."

Tessa Truex '05 ended her final season as a Middlebury diver with second place finishes and NCAA "B" cuts in the 1 meter and 3 meter diving events. Truex set new school records in both events, and her stellar performance made her the Diver of the Meet. She and Alanna Hanson '08, who finished fourth in both events, "showed that they were the team to contend with" and provided "unmatched depth in the event," said Solomon. Not only were the divers recognized, but their coach, Lisa Gibbs, was named Diving Coach of the Meet.

"Middlebury held their own in a very competitive meet," said Solomon proudly of his swimmers. "The addition of some talented freshmen this year really helped to keep us on a level playing field with the likes of Amherst and Williams, both teams that are expected to go on and be one of the best 5 or 6 teams in the country." Middlebury is planning on being right there with them when they travel to Hope Collage in Holland, Mich. for the Divisions III NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships on March 10-12th.