Nationals Recap

The 2013 NCAA DIII Nationals came to a close this evening but not before our Whitman swimmers had one more swim each.  Karl started the morning off with a great effort in his 100 freestyle.  His time of 45.72 was was his second fastest of the year, just missing his Conference and school record swim from the NWC Championships of 45.46.  As was the trend this year, it took a very fast 45.08 to make the top 16 and a 44.81 to make the top 8.  Claire swam the 200 breaststroke this morning with a very good time of 2:22.10.  She swam a very strong race but didn't quite match her NWC Championship effort. 

Galen had yesterday off to rest and prepare for this afternoon's 1650 freestyle.  Galen's race came at the end of this final morning session.  The men and women with the top 8 entry times swam the race at the beginning of the evening session.  Two things became clear as Galen got underway in his race: he wasn't going to hold anything back, and he was going to have a race on his hands.  Galen and Stevens Institute's Wesley Elford were within three seconds of one another for the duration of the race.  Galen was out in 4:38.77 at the 500 mark, and a new school record 9:21.73 at the 1000.  Galen led the race until the final 150 yards when Elford took control, eventually winning the heat and placing 5th overall.  Even though Galen finished second in his heat, his final time of 15:34.00 was a lifetime best, school record and Northwest Conference record, and fast enough for 7th place overall and his second All-American Award of the meet. 

In the end, Whitman finished 17th in the Men's team score with 56 total points. The  University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point, was 16th with 63.  On the Women's side, Claire Collins was responsible for the first points ever scored by a Whitman woman.  Her 5 points placed Whitman 47th in the team division, tied with the State University of New York, New Palz.

Here are the Quick Stats from the meet:

• 4 NCAA All-American awards, 2 for Karl and 2 for Galen, and one NCAA All-American Honable mention for Claire, the first All-American award for a Whitman women's swimmer
• Whitman's highest finish at an NCAA Swimming National Championship for our Men's team at 17th overall
• Whitman's first ever points scored by a woman swimmer from Claire's 12th place finish in the 100 breaststroke
• 4 more school records were broken, bringing the season total to 24
• Galen had the highest individual event finish in school history with his 2nd place effort of 4:27.47 in the 500 free
• Whitman set three new NWC records: Galen 500 free: 4:27.47; Karl 200 butterfly: 1:47.50; Galen 1650 free: 15:34.00

In the end, we had a phenomenal meet!  All of us are thrilled with the way things turned out.  We just wish that everyone could have been here with us for this awesome experience!  I feel extremely inspired by the experience and want nothing more than to give the rest of our Whitman swimmers the opportunity to compete at the National level.  Look out 2014 National Championships! 

Here are some photos form the day:

Jenn helping Claire with her cap before the 200 Breaststroke

Galen chilling before his 1650

Congratulations Galen, Claire, Jenn, and Karl

Galen getting his second All-American award

Day Three Recap

It was another exciting day in Texas!  Karl starting things off this morning with fantastic 200 butterfly to qualify him 5th for the finals of the event.  His prelims time of 1:48.37 lowered his own school and Conference record in the event.  Claire Collins then followed Karl's performance with an outstanding swim of her own, swimming a 1:04.87 to qualify her 14th for finals.

In finals, Karl put together a superb swim to get 3rd place overall with a time of 1:47.50 and lower his school and Conference record yet again!  In the prelims, Karl's first 100 split was 50.30, and his second 100, 58.07.  However, in finals, Karl led off with a more conservative first 100 yards, touching at 51.68 at the halfway point.  The energy he saved on the first half of the race turned into an explosive last 50 yards--the fastest final 50 yards in the top 8--that propelled Karl home with a 55.82 split on his second 100 yards, and ultimately a third place finish.  Karl also became an All-American for the second time this week.  His last 50 yards was foreshadowed by Galen's unbelievable come from behind finish in the 500 freestyle on Wednesday.  Galen's final 50 in the 500 was also the fastest in the top 8. 

Claire's final in the 100 breaststroke was also a come from behind effort!  After her great morning swim, Claire was fired up for finals!  And, just like Karl and Galen before her, she closed down the race with a phenomenal last 50 yards--tying the fastest split in her heat at 33.67--for a 1:04.57.  Her finals effort knocked another .3 off of her prelims swim and moved her from 14th to 12th place overall.  Her swim also made Claire the first Whitman woman to become an All-American Honorable Mention!  That's 4 All-American awards so far!

Galen had the day off today but will swim the 1650 tomorrow at the end of the morning session.  Galen is seeded 10th in the event and will be swimming in lane 5.  The top 8 qualifiers will swim at the beginning of the finals session and because the event is a timed final, meaning that it is only swum once by each athlete rather than prelims-finals format, it doesn't matter whether an athlete swims in the morning or evening.  Karl starts the morning off in the first event, the 100 freestyle.  Finally, Claire will swim the 200 breaststroke tomorrow as well. 

Prelims start at 10am central time!  Keep checking the Twitter @WhitmanSwimming for results!

Now here are some fun pictures from today!

Keller and Claire.  Thanks for the support Keller!

Karl getting his trophy!

Galen makes sure Karl gets dried off for his award

Claire and the scoreboard.  12th place!

Karl and Jenn celebrating All-American no. 2

Day Two!

Day two started off with a bang this morning when Karl Mering swam a 48.67 in the 100 butterfly, the 6th fastest time of the prelims session.  His finals effort of 48.70 earned him 8th place overall and his first All-American honor.  The 100 butterfly was sure to be one of the fastest events at the Championships this year, after 24 men met the "A" qualifying standard in the event.  MIT's Wyatt Ubellacker broke the DIII National Record in the event with his winning time of 47.41.  And all of this happened on Karl's 20th birthday!

Claire had the day off today and will compete in the 100 breaststroke tomorrow.  Galen swam in the 200 freestyle this morning as well but after two unbelievable 500 swims yesterday, he didn't make the top-16 in the event.  The Men's 200 freestyle was perhaps the deepest event of the day.  To qualify 16th took a 1:39.35; to qualify 8th, a 1:38.81.  Kenyon's Austin Caldwell won the event in 1:37.01, missing the National record by just .03.  Galen has the day off tomorrow and will compete in the 1650 at the end of the morning session on Saturday.  He is seeded 10th in the event. 

Karl's meet continues with the 200 butterfly tomorrow.  The 200 fly is the first event of the morning session which starts at 10am Central Time.  Claire's 100 breaststroke is the final individual event of the morning. 

The birthday boy and Claire share a moment this morning at prelims

Karl receiving his award for 8th place

Karl's birthday dinner at Chipotle!  He got to choose the restaurant and his parents, uncle, and cousin joined us with the cake

All-American Karl and Jenn after his 100 butterfly

Day One Recap

Day one is over and it was absolutely incredible!  After a fantastic morning swim to qualify 6th and lower his school record in the event, Galen came back this evening and laid down a picture perfect 500 in 4:27.47 that won him second place, lowered his school record and NWC record, and was his first lifetime best in the event since he was 17.  His second place effort in the event earned Whitman 17 points, placing Whitman 14th overall in the team standings after day one. 

Claire Collins also swam her first race of the meet this morning, swimming a great 200 IM.  Claire has tomorrow off before she swims the 100 breaststroke on Friday and the 200 breaststroke on Saturday.  Even though Claire wasn't swimming tonight, I think she was the most excited one!  She can't wait to swim on Friday!

Karl swims his first race tomorrow morning in the 100 butterfly.  He'll swim the 200 fly on Friday, and the 100 freestyle on Saturday.  Today, Karl counted for Galen's 500's and spent some time catching up on some reading when he wasn't cheering and watching races.  

Galen is still riding high from his swims today and he'll continue swimming tomorrow with the 200 freestyle before getting a rest-day on Friday before his 1650 at the end of Saturday's prelims session.

We're pumped up!  And as awesome as day one was, we think that there are still more incredible things coming up in this meet...

Jenn and I couldn't be more proud of our swimmers!  There may only be three Whitman swimmers in this meet, but the other 39 swimmers on the team--and the hundreds of other people connected to this team--continue to inspire all of us!  Thank you so much for the continued support.  Let's go Whitman! 

Karl doing some reading

Jenn and Galen with his 2nd place trophy!

Galen on the Podium!

Everything You Need to Know about Nationals

Tomorrow morning is the first day of the 2013 NCAA DIII National Championships!  This is a four-day long meet.  Each day, prelims will start at 10am Central Time, finals at 6pm Central Time.  Click here to go to the live video stream for tomorrow!  I will post a link to live the live results page as soon as one becomes available.  Here is the order of events, as well as who is in each event

Wednesday

• Events 1-2: 500 freestyle (Galen)
• Events 3-4: 200 IM (Claire)
• Events 5-6: 50 freestyle  
• Event 7: Women's 3 meter diving
• Events 8-9: 200 medley relay

Thursday

• Events 10-11: 200 freestyle relay
• Events 12-13: 400 IM
• Events 14-15: 100 butterfly (Karl)
• Events 16-17: 200 freestyle (Galen)
• Event 18: Men's 1 meter diving
• Events 19-20: 400 yard medley relay

Friday

• Events 21-22: 200 butterfly (Karl)
• Events 23-24: 100 backstroke 
• Events 25-26: 100 breaststroke (Claire)
• Event 27: Women's one meter diving
•  Events 28-29: 800  freestyle relay

Saturday

• Events 32-33: 100 freestyle (Karl)
• Events 34-35: 200 backstroke
• Events 36-37: 200 breaststroke (Claire)
• Events 30-31: 1650 freestyle (Galen)

Before this meet gets under way, I would like to say thank you to all of our Whitman swimmers--past and present--our Whitman Swimming parents and families, and all the other supporters of our team.  Your support has shaped our team into what it is today.  Without you, we would not be here.  

Hello from Houston!

After a day of traveling that started this morning at 5:15am, we made it to Houston this afternoon and got a warmup swim at our pool for the next five days.  Tomorrow morning we'll get another swim in and then we'll get some downtime before the NCAA banquet dinner tomorrow evening.  The meet starts Wednesday morning at 10am Central Time.  Check back here again tomorrow for more pictures and an extensive preview of the meet and links to the live video and live results!

 

 Starting our day off this morning at the Pasco Airport

The Conroe ISD Natatorium in Shenandoah, TX, is our pool this week!  It's a 65 meter pool with an 8 lane competition course, 9 lane warmup pool, a dive tank with another three warmup lanes, and seating for 1100 spectators.  I can't wait to see this place during finals!

Our National Team!

 Warming up in the competition course

 

Spring Break

For the next two weeks, Whitman students head away from campus for some well-deserved time away from classroom. 

The National Team and Libby Arnosti enjoy the sun at Jenn's house after Claire's birthday brunch
 

Karl found Jenn's piano and busted out some Prokofiev sometime between the end of the chocolate chip pancakes and the porch. 

Here's what some of our other swimmers are up to during break:

Sophomore, Nic Win, and Freshmen, Will Erickson and Robby Dorn, are sticking around campus this week, completing a Wilderness First Responder training course which is offered by Whitman every spring break.
Sophomore, Rachael Barton is in Kunming, China, visiting Matt Rowett ('12) who is currently in Kunming teaching English at a University as part of the Whitman in China program.
Senior, Tyler Hurlburt, is road-tripping from Seattle down to the Berkeley, CA, to spend a weekend visiting UC Berkeley where he has been admitted into a Chemistry PhD program. 
All the rest of our Seniors are hard at work on their Senior Thesis projects...but it's not all bad!  Katie Chapman is spending this week in Kauai surfing between her Geology study sessions and  Kevin Dyer is busy writing for his English Thesis--but he's spending the second week of that time in Mendocino, CA.  Charlotte Graham is busy plugging away on her Biology Thesis but her she's doing it from the Bahamas where she's spending the week sailing with her aunt and uncle. 

Even though we're all a little jealous of our swimmer friends out playing in the sun, we can't wait to get to Texas for Nationals!  All of them staying focused and excited with the help of their teammates' fun and inspirational daily notes, dollar-store favorites, stuffed animals, and treats!

I'll be sure to post about live results and live video coverage from the meet sometime next week!

Getting Ready for Nationals!

For the first time ever, Whitman Swimming will send both men and women to the National Championship.  Junior, Claire Collins, is ranked 11th in her 100 breaststroke (1:04.45)--fast enough to be selected into the meet.  Senior, Galen Sollom-Brotherton is ranked 10th in the 500 freestyle (4:31.38) and 11th in his 1650 freestyle (15:47.53), fast enough to be selected in both events.  Sophomore, Karl Mering achieved an automatic time standard in the 100 butterfly in December but his season-best 48.59 at the NWC Championships in February gave him the third fastest time in the nation in the event. 
Once a swimmer qualifies or gets selected to participate at the National Championships, that individual can swim up to three individual events.  Karl will swim the 100 freestyle, and 100 and 200 butterfly, Galen the 200, 500 and 1650 freestyle, and Claire the 100 and 200 breaststroke and 200 IM.  Because the meet is spread out over four days, no one will have more than one event on any day of the meet.  For a PDF of the meet schedule, click here and then click "Detailed Schedule." 

We will leave Walla Walla and head for Houston and the Conroe ISD Natatorium on Monday, March 18th and Return to Walla Walla on Sunday, March 24th.  If you or someone you know is a Whitman fan and lives near Houston, Texas--or wants to fly there to cheer us on--let us know!  We'd love to hear from you and see you at the meet!