Fall sports are officially over, paving the way for winter sports to take center stage here at Swarthmore. Among these winter sports, the Swarthmore Men’s and Women’s Swim Teams seem to be emerging as strong contenders in their respective conferences. Going into December, both teams are currently undefeated, Men 3-0 and Women 4-0, and are hoping to continue that streak as the season continues. With a little less than three months and eight more meets left in the season, Swat Swim believe their hard work and sense of team unity will be enough to carry them to the Centennial Conference Championships.
After winning the 2017 Centennial Conference Championship in style, Men’s Swim hope to defend their title this year and go back-to-back. So far, the team seems on track to do just that. Having swum and won three meets, Men’s Swim are working hard to ensure another victory. When asked if winning the 2017 Conference Championship has put any added pressure on his team, Jeff Tse ʼ19 curtly responded no. His lack of concern about pressure shows his confidence in his teammates as well as in himself. He did elaborate about how his team stays excited about swimming throughout the entire winter season.
“We stick together and motivate each other,” said Tse. Hopefully this motivated and tight-knit team will be able to continue breaking school records and be a contender for another championship. If you want to see this championship team in action, the team’s next meet is at home versus Ursinus College on Dec. 2 at 11 a.m.
Swarthmore Women’s Swim Team have also started off their year incredibly fierce with four conference wins. Finishing third last year at the conference finals, Women’s Swim hope to come back this year even stronger. Sophie Moody ʼ19 elaborated on the team’s goals for this season.
“This season, we hope to go undefeated in dual meets and place within the top two teams at conferences. Other than working hard in the pool and the weight room, we’ve really been working on keeping up our team energy, cheering each other on, and holding each other accountable, and we plan on continuing this momentum and hard work as we progress through the season,” said Moody.
This goal seems like a reasonable endeavour considering how well the season has started out. Having lost only four seniors last year and added six freshmen this year, Women’s Swim seems to be set up for a terrific year. Kalli Segel ʼ20 is also looking forward to the conference championships and believes that the team can move up in the rankings this year. The winter season is one of the longest sports seasons at Swarthmore, so Women’s Swim has to find a way to motivate one another to stay strong through each early morning lift and grueling swim practice. Sophie Moody ʼ19 expanded on how she and her teammates stays focused before each meet.
“Before every meet we all get breakfast together as a team at Sharples before we head to the bus or the pool to start warm-up. Also, as a women’s team, we take turns making little goodie bags for each other filled with snacks, toys, and always tons of temporary tattoos. We spend the time right before we start warm-ups to get all tatted up in matching temporary tats for the meet, ” said Moody.
It is this type of motivation as well as working towards a realistic team goal that will help Women’s Swim come back to conferences even stronger this year.
If you want to see this motivated and talented team compete, come out to Ware pool, Saturday Dec. 2 at 11 a.m. to see the Garnet face off against Ursinus College. Both teams hope that they can continue to make a splash in the Centennial Conference.
