BY DENNIS FAN

In print | Published December 4, 2008 — Updated December 05, 2008 10:05

The men’s (2-3, CC 2-1) and women’s (3-2, CC 2-1) swim teams improved their overall conference records the week before Thanksgiving Break with confident victories over Ursinus College, but also dropped a meet to a challenging New York University swim team. Coaches had promised that the NYU competition would be difficult, and it proved to be so. The nationally-ranked top-20 teams swept both men’s and women’s competitions with 126-78 and 135-63 victories respectively. The meet was not without bright spots, as Chelsea Brett ’11 took first in the 100-yard freestyle in a season-best time and the Garnet were able to challenge the NYU teams with several other outstanding times.

Sarah Bedolfe ’11 commented that, “NYU is a step above most schools in the Centennial Conference … probably the toughest competitions we see all year.” For the resilient Swarthmore swimmers, the demanding competition in New York proved to be an incentive to swim faster and bounce back.

Three days later, the swim teams faced Ursinus and both the men’s and women’s teams defeated them decisively, 162-87 and 138-119 respectively. Though the meet was close at times for the women, a top-three sweep in the 200-yard IM, the second to last event, sealed the victory for Swarthmore. Ultimately, Ursinus served as a vital proving ground for the strength of both swim teams. Among the events that Garnet swimmers swept first and second were the women’s 200-yard freestyle, 200-yard butterfly and the men’s 50-yard freestyle, 100-yard freestyle, and 200-yard freestyle relay. A new pool record for the 200-yard freestyle relay was also set by freshmen August Dinwiddie, Lance Liu and Tim Brevart, and senior captain Doug Gilchrist-Scott, who also swept both backstroke events.

Brett attributed the victory to the team’s practices and said, “Everyone really stepped it up.” Even when not taking first place finishes, swimmers were able to compete nose-to-nose with Ursinus’ best and score points.

Despite strong finishes, there are still many aspects of competition for the Garnet to improve on. Brett commented that “Little things in races,” such as out-touching opponents at the wall, would make a big impact on the final score of races. Sam Bullard-Sisken ’12 added that the team would take time in practice on starts and turns, which can have a tremendous impact on the overall race. Swimmers score points by their place at the finish of a race, not by their time. A third-place finish, even if within one-hundredth of a second of a second-place finish, still counts as a third-place finish (a phenomenon well-documented by Michael Phelps in the Olympics this past summer). Though formal practices will halt soon, as the final exam period looms ahead, swimmers are expected to stay in the water.

Furthermore, the swim teams will have an opportunity to improve over Winter Break on their training trip to Aruba. The trip will not be as relaxing as it may sound. Brett described the daily training routine, “We wake at 5 a.m. for three hours of swimming” and the swimmers engage in dry-land practice along with more swimming later in the day. The trip promises to be a great way for the team to train and bond at the same time.

In the nearer future, the Garnet will have an opportunity to avenge their close losses to Franklin & Marshall College by competing at the Franklin & Marshall Invitational this weekend. F&M has defeated Swarthmore in the conference championships the past few years as well as earlier this year.

Bedolfe stated the invitational was “practice for conference [championships].” Teams from all over the conference attend, and many teams taper to prepare for the meet. Tapering is a process where swimmers gradually swim less, staying in the water but resting and storing up energy before a big match. Swarthmore will decide to forgo tapering and continue intense workouts with eyes set for the prize at the end of the road, conference championships. The swimmers continue to be confident that tougher practices now will prove to pay dividends later.

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