Swimming, diving heat up the pool

Author: Molly West

The Middlebury swimming and diving team participated in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) invitational this past weekend against four other schools: MIT, Tufts, Williams and St. Michael's. Team scores for this meet were not calculated, as the meet was intended as an opportunity for swimmers to race in events that they do not normally participate in during competitive meets.

For the Panther swimmers and divers, the primary purpose for this weekend was "for people to tweak their races a bit in preparation for NESCACS," said Kevin O'Rourke '09. O'Rourke also added that "it's a good chance for seniors to try their alternate events before they swim at conference championships."

Many of the Panther swimmers and divers were unable to compete due to illness and, therefore, there were fewer Middlebury top-finishers than usual. As Katie Soja '10 explained, "it has been a rough stretch for our team with more illnesses than we have seen in years." However, despite sickness spreading throughout the team, the squad had many impressive individual accomplishments.

On the women's side, Katie Soja '10 once again swam away with the 1000-yard freestyle, taking first place and finishing with a time of 10:50.45. The women also competed well in the 100-yard breast stroke, with Catherine Suppan '09 placing second, Jessie Ward '11 placing fourth and Alyssa Ha '11 finishing in sixth place. Jessie Ward also had an impressive time of 59.29 in the 100-yard Freestyle considering she does not usually compete in that event.

Alyssa Ha '11 also had a strong performance in the 400-yard Inter-medley, swimming into second place. Rookie swimmer Dana Monsees swam particularly well in the 1650-yard Freestyle, finishing in third place with a time of 19:18. The women's 200-yard Inter-medley Relay Team, comprised of Ha, Annie Friedlander '11, Jessie Ward '11 and Emily Whitaker '11, swam with strength and finished in third place.

There were many strong performances on the men's side as well. Senior Zach Woods took first place in the 100-yard backstroke. Woods also swam well in the 100-yard butterfly, sneaking into fifth place just behind senior teammate Kevin O'Rourke who placed fourth in the 100-yard Butterfly. Kazu Asaga '12 continued to dominate the 200-yard butterfly, picking up first place in the event during this weekend's invitational.

The Class of 2011 had a particularly strong performance throughout the weekend. Jay Li '11 was a first place finisher, winning the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 49.34. Mac Staben '11 persevered through the 1000-yard freestyle, taking first place and finishing with a time of 10:15.98. A third sophomore, Kevin Glatt '11, swam well for Middlebury, placing third in the 1650-yard freestyle. Andy Collins '12 swam close behind Glatt in the 1650-yard freestyle, finishing in fifth place with a time of 18:25.57.

The Panthers do not have a meet scheduled for the upcoming weekend, but will continue practicing in the Middlebury pool. From this point forward, the team begins to taper off its training in order to ensure complete rest and recovery in anticipation of the championships ahead. This week's goal is for the team to get healthy in order to be able to best compete in the upcoming conference championships on Feb. 27-28 and March 1. Soja optimistically claimed that the team is "bouncing back" and will be prepared to compete at full force come NESCAC championship-time.