Athlete of the Week | Swimmers and diver shine in opening meets

Joe Bubar Staff Writer

Despite an early 1-5 record, Vassar’s men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams have shown strong individual performances. On the men’s side, swimmer and co-captain John Alaimo ’09 has continued to impress in his races, as has diving team captain Andrew “Roo” Wood ’08, who is currently ranked third in New York. On the women’s side, distance swimmers co-captain Elizabeth Gadomski ’08 and Charley Young ’09 have consistently posted fast times as well. These athletes will be tested this weekend at the Liberty League Championships on Nov. 30-Dec. 1.

The “Distance Duo” of Gadomski and Young has provided the women’s team with a newfound competitiveness and leadership. “[Gadomski] goes out there and gives everything,” said Head Coach Lisl Prater-Lee. “She keeps her head down to the last 10 yards. But it’s hard to highlight [Gadomski] without [Young].”

Gadomski recently impressed Prater-Lee in the team’s Nov. 10 meet against Rensselaer. She could have “taken the easy way out,” said Prater-Lee, but instead held off her opponents to capture third place in the 1000-yard freestyle and fourth place in the 500-yard freestyle races.

Young has provided consistent scores as well. She took second place in the 1000-yard freestyle against Skidmore College on Nov. 3 and went on to finish third in the 1000-yard freestyle against SUNY New Paltz.

“I have shown that hard work, determination and positive mental attitude are necessary in order to achieve one’s goals,” said Young.

Prater-Lee said Young “leads by example,” while she describes Gadomski as being more vocal. “I’m always trying to work on a positive attitude in practice every day,” said Gadomski. “Being vocal and encouraging other team members is something so vital.” Gadmoski’s teammates appreciate her leadership. “She’s a captain because they respect her,” said Prater-Lee.

On the men’s squad, Wood has emerged as “one of the strongest divers Vassar has ever had,” according to Prater-Lee. A gymnast and aspiring stunt double, Wood had no previous diving experience before joining the team his freshman year.

Although Wood claims that “coming from gymnastics to diving was pretty easy,” Prater-Lee finds his success extraordinary. “To think you can go that far that quickly is incredible,” she said.

Wood also overcame a major setback the summer of his sophomore year when he had knee surgery, making his success all the more improbable. That year, not only did he fully recover from his injury, he went on to set all four diving records for Vassar: 11 dives on the 1-meter and 3-meter boards and six on both boards.

So far this season, Wood has picked up where he left off by breaking his 1-meter record by seven points at Rensselaer meet on Nov. 10.

Alaimo has also been successful this season, winning three races in the Nov. 3 meet against Skidmore: the 200-Yard freestyle, the 100-Yard butterfly and the 200-Yard Individual Medley (IM).

“He has improved from a time trial swimmer to a competitor,” Prater-Lee said of Alaimo.

A two-sport athlete in swimming and cross country, Alaimo chose not to swim freshman year and injured himself running. Alaimo, who has been swimming since he was seven, worked hard to get back in swimming shape for sophomore year.

“I was so weak because I had lost so much muscle. My shoulders were hurting,. I wanted my training to be more consistent, so I lifted weights and trained over the summer. I swam at least three days a week, which is more than I’ve done before in the off-season,” he said.

So far the training has paid off. Alaimo performed well against Rensselaer when he finished first in the 200-yard freestyle and the 100-yard butterfly. He also finished second in the 200-yard IM. He completed a season-best 200-yard butterfly, winning the event with a time of 2:09.09 against New Paltz.

With Alaimo, Wood, Gadomski and Young leading the way, Prater-Lee is optimistic about the Liberty League Championships meet. Last year, both the women’s and men’s swimming teams finished sixth and fourth respectively, a performance she feels the teams can improve with the help of these swimmers and diver.

—Additional reporting by Elizabeth Pacheco, Senior Editor