Young swim team shows togetherness, enthusiasm

Acacia O'Connor Sports Editor

While standout individual performances have highlighted the team’s season thus far, the Brewers’ success has hinged greatly on their passion and unity.

Despite the fact that competition is over for this semester and that students are approaching the most stressful academic time, the members of the squad were in the pool in the early morning hours this week to train. Their attitude, more so than the plain numbers of their record, proves how much hard work the team has contributed and why.

“They are, as a group, extremely cohesive,” said head coach Lisl Prater-Lee. “They have really bought into the whole team thing. They are supportive and enthusiastic.”
While team spirit and cooperation are phrases used often in the athletic world, it is somewhat surprising considering that swimming is such an individual sport. At younger ages, swimmers sometimes compete in tournaments without team affiliation and often specialize in a single stroke or race. For a college team to be unified and successful, it requires more flexibility and readiness to accept a role, even if it means swimming for more than a personal best.

That said, it would be impossible to ignore the impressive individual achievements that have come along with the team effort.

On the first day of the two-day Liberty League meet, the women’s team boasted six life-time and eight season bests. Many of those times came in the 50 meter Freestyle, including a first-place finish and career best from Blaire Fromm ’07 with a time of 24.92. Freshman standout Emily Love placed third in the race with her career best of 25.17.

Jess Lentner ’09 also posted a career best in the trial and Maya Kriet ’09 and Sasha Litwin ’07 swam season bests.

Vassar had an impressive showing in the 500 Freestyle as well. Love, Stacey Mack ’09 and Teal Shepley-Blair ’07 each had top career times while Charley Young ’09, Elizabeth Gadomski ’08 and captain Kathryn Swallow ’07 scored top times on the season.

The second day of the meet was just as rewarding for the Brewers, and especially so for Love. Love, who started her career by setting two school records in her first meet, took first place in both the 100- and 200-Yard Backstroke.

Her Liberty League record-breaking performance in the 200-Yard Backstroke earned Love the title “Rookie of the Meet.”

In the 200-yard Breaststroke, Allison Koenker ’09 finished third for the Brewers, while Melissa Robinson ’08 placed tenth. And Vassar finished only a second behind Liberty League Champion RPI in the 400-yard Freestyle relay, swam by Love, Kriet, Fromm and Lentner.

Another impressive factor in the Brewer’s success is how young the team is. The team has no seniors and a large contingent of contributing freshmen.

“We are benefiting from these freshmen, but we’re also benefiting from the consistency and the stability of the juniors.” Prater-Lee said. The juniors, according to Prater-Lee, “are the ones who have been through this. They know what it’s like to come home [from a meet] and write papers on Sunday and do the work that they’ve missed.”

The youth of the squad bodes well for the future of the team, both in the coming semester and next season.

The women will continue to train and to bond on their upcoming team trip to Miami over winter break. When they return to Vassar, they will meet Trinity for their first test of the new semester.

The second semester tournament that the team has marked on their calendars is the annual Seven Sisters Championship, which will be held Jan. 21 and 22 at Mount Holyoke College.

The team might have placed second in the tournament last season if adverse weather conditions had not caused it to be cut short.

“We have this recent history that we want to capitalize on,” said Prater-Lee of the tournament. “We don’t know if we can take first right now, but we can scare them.”

Whatever happens, the women seem up to the challenge, said Prater-Lee. “They are looking forward. It’s awesome to have a group in front of you that’s doing that.”