The Class of 2014

This Sunday, we will watch our four seniors graduate.  No class of women has ever achieved as many swimming milestones as these four.  The class of 2014 is responsible for 4 individual Whitman records and one or more of them was a member of each of the five Whitman record relay teams.  On top of that, Claire Collins became the first NCAA All-America award winner for our women's team, and Melanie, Claire, and Keller were all members of the NCAA "B" standard qualifying 200 medley relay team.  Claire also holds an NWC all-time record in the 100 breaststroke.  All-in-all, our four senior women are also responsible for 11 Whitman all-time top-10 times.
On top of their landmark achievements in the water, we will miss them for their leadership and incredible ability to inspire their teammates--all while also receiving accolades for their academic and extracurricular endeavors.  The guidance, work-ethic, poise, and collaborative spirit that these fine women brought to Whitman and our team elevated each of us.  Their legacy will live on for years to come!

Now, for a little bit about each of our soon-to-be graduates...

Ellen and Claire

Ellen Banks, from Pasadena, California, is majoring in Anthropology.  This summer, she is going to return home to Pasadena to coach rec-league swimming before moving to New York City where she will be teaching math at Connelly Middle school, an all-girls, inner-city school on Manhattan's Lower East Side, for two years.

Claire Collins, from Burlingame, California, is majoring in English.  Claire is pursuing her Masters in Education through the University of Notre Dame's Alliance for Catholic Education.  She will spend her next two summers in South Bend, Indiana, taking classes at Notre Dame, and will be living and working in Southern California during the school year, where she will be a middle school language-arts teacher at St. Michael's School in Los Angeles.  She will graduate from her program in two years and then plans to pursue a career in education.

Keller at NWC Champs, 2014

Keller Hawkins, from Nashville, Tennessee, is majoring in Religion.  Keller is moving back to Nashville and will spend her summer working for Project Transformation Tennessee, a non-profit which she has been involved with for many years.  In August, Keller starts working towards her Masters of Divinity at Vanderbilt Divinity School.  She plans to focus her studies on the intersection of gender, sexuality, and religion.  She hopes to become an ordained minister in the United Methodist Church.

Melanie and Jenn 

Melanie Notari, from Bellevue, Washington, is majoring in Politics.  Mel will be spending the summer here in Walla Walla, working and preparing for the LSAT.  She hopes to pursue a career in law and will be taking the next year to work, travel, and apply for Law School.

Keller, Claire, Ellen, and Mel after NWC Championships in 2011

Congratulations, Class of 2014!  We are extremely proud of each of you!

Triathlon and Awards Banquet

Pre-race meeting at the Triathlon

Last weekend, we hosted our annual Spring Triathlon, which consists of a 500 yard swim, 10 mile bike ride, and a 5k run.  The event was a great success!  With nice weather and a good turnout, it was a fun event for us and the community.  Several of our swimmers competed individually and as part of a team.  The triathlon and the awards banquet mark the end of our team-wide events for the year.

Jr., Dane Kawamoto finishing the race!

New records!

Tuesday night was the annual Swimming and Varsity Athletics award banquet.  As always, it was a great celebration not just of our achievements in the pool this season, but it was an opportunity to come together as a group again before the end of the year.

Elise and Shanley, 400 IM record holders

Our evening started with signing broken records.  With the new records up, the old ones came down and were signed by those who are now on the record board.  Broken records then get packed up and sent to their previous owners--a great Whitman Swimming tradition that we've had since the pool opened in 2006.




Following record signing, we had dinner in Sherwood followed by a heap of awards.
First were peer awards.  The following awards were voted on by the Men's and Women's team and then awarded to the winners, along with a coveted yellow and white towel as a prize.

• "STL Superstar" is given to the man and woman with more spirit than they know what to do with.  The award went to Zoey Watts and Kincaid Hoffman, both first-year swimmers.
• "New Missionary" is given to the first-year student-athletes who embody everything that Whitman Swimming stands for.  Those recipients were Sean Terada, Shanley Miller, Zoey Watts, and Kincaid Hoffman.
• "Workout Warrior" is given to the man and woman who bring 100% effort to every practice.  Those winners were Will Erickson and Shanley Miller.
• "Most Inspirational" is given to the man and woman who keep spirits high even when things aren't going as well as we might like.  The winners this year were Keller Hawkins and Dane Kawamoto.
• The "Landshark" award goes to the man and woman who go above and beyond with their work ethic in the weight room.  This year's winners were Jo Brunner and Nic Win.
• "Most Improved" goes to the man and woman who showed dramatic growth throughout the course of this season.  The breaststrokers took it home this year, going to Robby Dorn and Nina Dipboye.
• Finally, the "MVP" award, not surprisingly, went to Karl Mering and Claire Collins after a truly incredible season.  

Sean, Zoey, Kincaid, and Shanley

The coaching staff got to do some award giving as well, selecting a man and a a woman to receive the Coach's Award.  The award is given to the man and woman who are not just exemplary teammates and exemplary student-athletes, but are just genuinely great people to have at practice every day.  The winners of the Coach's Award were Ellen Banks and Cole Weinstein.

Following the swimming banquet, we went to the Varsity Athletics banquet where several of our swimmers received recognition.

First-year swimmers Tai Hallstein and Cole Weinstein were both recipients of the "Most Outstanding Performer" award, given to the man and woman in his or her first season who demonstrate truly outstanding athletic accomplishment.  Sam Starr and Elise Tinseth were both nominated as Most Outstanding Performers in the Sophomore class.  Karl Mering was selected as the Most Outstanding Male Performer from the junior class.  Finally, Claire Collins was nominated as the Most Outstanding Performer for the Senior women's class.
But the evening wasn't over for Claire, as she was the Women's recipient of the Borleske Trophy, an honor given to a senior man and woman for having not just completed an outstanding athletic career, but for being an engaged, enthusiastic member of our Varsity Athletics Department, as well as a model student and community member.  The last Woman Swimmer to receive the award was Whitman's Swimming's first ever National Championship qualifier, Erin Pettersen, in 2008.

From left, Karl, Sam, Jenn, Claire, Cole and Tai

All in all, it was a great last hurrah for the team and especially for our four senior women, Ellen Banks, Claire Collins, Keller Hawkins, and Melanie Notari, who have been incredible leaders and an inspiration for the entire team.  They are by far the highest achieving senior class that our team has ever had.  Their work ethic, commitment to each other and the team, and remarkable achievements outside the pool, will continue to inspire future generations of swimmers for years to come!

From left, Keller, Claire, Mel and Ellen

Now we look ahead to finals and Commencement.  Finals begin one week from today, May 15th, and conclude on May 20th.  Commencement takes place on Sunday, May 25th.  

PT and Swim Lessons

A beautiful spring day on campus!

Whitman came back to life last week at the conclusion of spring break and now we're off and running for the final six weeks of the semester!  Although things are busier than ever, there is good news: spring has arrived!  Last week we saw sun and temperatures in the 60's and today things are even brighter, with highs in the 70's.  Needless to say, everyone is enjoying the off-season by getting outside for some much needed fun in the sun!

The Women's team going through core exercises

Last weekend, we had the privilege of welcoming Sara Behrens ('13) to campus to give the team a crash course on the importance of core strength, flexibility, and stabilization.  Sara graduated with a degree in biology and has been working as a physical therapy assistant in Seattle since graduating last May.  She plans on getting a PhD in Physical Therapy and will be applying for graduate school in the fall.  Sara met with the Men's and Women's teams and sent everyone away with better awareness and appreciation for the details that lead to better productivity in the pool and weight room and fewer injuries.  Many of the strength, flexibility, and posture exercises that Sara showed us will be incorporated into the team's dryland regime for the off-season and the 2014-15 season.

Swim lessons in the shallow end

It's time for swim lessons again!  Each year during the Walla Walla Public School's spring break, the Whitman Swimmers offer one-on-one swim lessons to local children.  With no public swimming facility in the city, this week-long event offers the community access to a much-needed resource and is a great way for our team to make a positive impact on our region's youth.  Aside from the community impact, the swim lessons also give our student-athletes a great perspective one just how challenging and remarkable it is to train and compete at such a high level day after day.

Finally, today regular classes take a pause while the campus hosts the Whitman annual Undergraduate Conference.  This annual event gives Whitman students an opportunity to make presentations to their peers and discuss their academic pursuits.  The unique, day-long event is centered around community learning, giving everyone on campus the opportunity to better understand what their classmates are passionate about.  Several of our swimmers are presenting throughout the day.  

As spring rolls along, there is no sign of things slowing down!  With prospective students visiting almost daily, outdoor program trips every weekend, intramural ultimate frisbee, softball, and volleyball underway (the swim team has a team in each), the annual spring triathlon just around the corner on May 3rd, and not to mention all the academic demands inherent to this time of year, the season may be over but free time is never as abundant as one might expect!  The energy on campus is high 

Nationals Day 4

Claire and Karl were back in action for the final day of this long, 4 day swim meet.  Even tough both of them were only swimming individual events, the travel and physical and mental stress that this high-stakes meet creates is a lot to handle.  Fortunately, Karl and Claire rallied and day 4 was another record-setting day!

Karl swam first again this morning, clocking in a Whitman record 45.18 100 freestyle.  His time was fast enough to qualify him for finals in the 16th and final position.  The NWC record in the 100 freestyle is 45.12, a time that eluded Karl in finals as well.  Despite taking his finals swim out .22 faster than his morning swim, he couldn't quite catch the NWC record time but ended up 15th overall with a 45.27.  The 100 freestyle was incredibly tight this year.  Karl was 15th at 45.27 and the winning time was just over a second faster than Karl at 44.18.  Karl's 100 freestyle final was his 3rd All-America swim of the meet and the 6th of his career so far, the most in Whitman Athletics history.

Claire followed Karl's morning swim with a tremendous swim of her own in the 200 breaststroke.  After a little bit of disappointment about not getting under the 1:04 barrier in the 100 yesterday, Claire was determined to break 2:20 in the 200 and that's just what she did.  She posted a Whitman record 2:19.92 preliminary time which was good enough to qualify her for the finals session in 11th place.  Claire had nearly identical splits in the evening race as she did in her morning except for one major difference: like her 100, she closed better than anyone in her heat.  She finished with a final 50 split of 36.11, over half a second faster than her morning swim's final 50 split.  The end result tonight was another Whitman record time and 11th place overall finish at 2:19.47.  Claire's 200 breaststroke finish earned her a 2nd All-America award and was her 3rd All-America award of her career.

After the meet, we went out for a nice celebratory dinner with both Claire's and Karl's parents.  Many thanks to both of them for making the trip from Burlingame, CA, and Boise, ID, respectively.  The support from all our Whitman Swimming parents and family and friends over the last week has been incredibly meaningful to everyone.  And a major shout-out to Keller Hawkins who made the drive to Indianapolis all the way from Walla Walla.  Even though she had to get her car home to Nashville anyway, having Keller here for the meet was so inspiring for all of us.  To all the Whitman swimmers and supporters, thank you!  We could never have made it here without you!

Claire and Jenn waving to Claire's parents in the stands after her 200 breast

Tomorrow, we head out of Indiana after (fortunately) getting to sleep in tomorrow.  Karl and Jenn head back to Walla Walla, Claire is off to spend the week at home with her family in Burlingame, and I'm off to experience the south with with Keller and her family in Nashville.  

Thanks for a great Nationals and a great season and I hope we see you at Whitman soon!

Nationals Day 3

Aside from being Karl's 21st birthday today, there were a few other notable things going on.  This morning, both Claire and Karl broke NWC and Whitman records in their individual events.  Karl struck first in the 200 butterfly, swimming to a 1:47.31 earning a second-place seed for tonight's final.  Claire followed Karl's performance with a 1:04.07 100 breaststroke and a 10th place seed for finals.

Tonight, the buzz on the pool deck was that the Men's 200 butterfly was going to be the best race of the night and it proved to be just that.  Karl, the University of Redlands' Jeff Depew, and Mary Washington's Hugh Anderson, battled it out in dramatic fashion.  Karl led until the 150 yard mark but couldn't quite match the finishing speed of Depew and Anderson.  In the end, it was Anderson who came out on top with a winning time of 1:45.36, just out-touching Depew, who finished in 1:45.38.  Karl was 3rd at 1:45.78, shattering his NWC and Whitman records in the event.  Any of this year's top 3 times would have won the event at last year's meet.  The best part: each of the top 4 finishers is a junior.

Claire's 100 breaststroke final was every great as Karl's 200 fly.  Claire was out a little slower than her morning swim at the 50 and finished the race even better than she did this morning.  Her finals time of 1:04.18 was just off her morning swim but the quality of her swimming certainly wasn't.  She had the 2nd fastest back-half in her heat, closing the race down in 33.37.  After watching her swim her 100 tonight, I can't wait to see what she can do in the 200 tomorrow.  I think we're in for another awesome race!

It was also senior night at the meet and Claire and all the other senior National qualifiers from all the other teams were recognized before the start of the finals session.  Needless to say, we'll all miss Claire very much.

Karl finishes up his meet tomorrow as well, swimming the 100 freestyle.  Because he didn't compete in the 100 freestyle at the NWC Championships, his entry time is from his mid-season taper at the Husky Invitational in December.  With his 400 free relay anchor split of 44.57 at Conference in February, it's hard to say what will happen tomorrow!

We had a nice team/birthday dinner with Claire's and Karl's parents after the meet tonight--all while watching our Women's Basketball team handle UW Whitewater and advance to the Championship game tomorrow!  It's such an exciting time to be part of Whitman Athletics!

Nationals Day 2

It was a big day for Whitman Swimming.  Three years ago, Karl Mering qualified for Nationals and he and teammate, Galen Sollom-Brotherton, became the first Whitman swimmers to earn All-America honors.  Last year, Karl earned himself a 3rd place finish and Galen, a 2nd.  Today, Karl completed the journey to the top with Whitman Swimming's first ever National Title.
He took home the crown in dramatic fashion, winning in 47.91, just out-touching the 2nd place finisher from Connecticut College, who finished in 47.92.  His swim was an NWC and Whitman record in the event.  To put it briefly, it was as close to unbelievable as it gets.  Jenn, Claire and I were surrounded by coaches and swimmers from two of the most represented schools at the meet: Emory and Denison University, but it wasn't a powerhouse with over a dozen qualifiers that finished first, it was Karl, the only representative of our Men's team from a little town in rural Washington state that maybe 1 in 5 people at this meet have heard of.  They've heard of us now.

Karl's win today was a true team effort.  All of our swimmers, alums, parents, and friends and family, pushed all of us and made what four years ago was nothing more than a crazy fantasy into a reality.  The outpouring of energy and team pride today after Karl's race was totally awesome!  I've said it before and I'll say it again and again, the Whitman Swim Team is every bit as great as any of the top-ranked teams at this National Championships.  We might not be sending dozens of people to the meet just yet but we're on the way.

And the meet isn't over!  We're only two days into the four day extravaganza that is the National Championships.  Tomorrow, Claire gets back in action in her signature event, the 100 breaststroke, in which she took home the NWC title just over one month ago, and finished 12th at last year's National Championships.  Karl continues his meet with the 200 butterfly tomorrow.  The 200 fly is the first race of the day, the 100 breast, the last.  Karl should hit the water just after 10am, Claire will probably swim sometime after 11:00am.  Like today, I'll be posting when Claire and Karl are close to swimming on our Facebook and Twitter.

Nationals Day 1

Day one is in the books and it was a great way to start off the meet!  Claire was the only one in action today for her optional entry in the 50 freestyle.  Her main events, the 100 and 200 breaststroke, will take place on Friday and Saturday.  But her 50 freestyle today was a great start!  She swam a personal best 25.35.  Although it wasn't the fastest time in the meet--in fact, the winning time was a blazing fast 22.80--it was a great way to get the jitters out.

Tomorrow, Claire has the day off and Karl takes on the 100 butterfly.  Karl is the top seed in the event after his Northwest Conference winning swim of 48.20.  If day one was any indicator of what's to come, it is sure to be exceptionally close in both prelims and finals.  It's going to take a great prelims swim from Karl tomorrow morning in order to be in contention in finals tomorrow night.  It's going to be an awesome morning!  I'll be posting more updates about Karl's heat and lane again tomorrow.

And a link to live results.

NCAA Banquet

Tonight, we had our formal NCAA banquet at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Indianapolis.  The event brought together over 700 student-athletes, coaches, and guests for dinner and presentations by two guest speakers, as well as a presentation of the NCAA's "Elite 89" award which goes to the student-athlete from each sport and each division who participates in a national championship and who achieves the highest cumulative GPA out of all male or female participants.

Our guest speakers tonight were a representative from the Special Olympics, who the NCAA supports and partners with often for events; and Brian Casey, the president of Depauw University in Greencastle, IN, a DIII institution who sent a strong contingent of 13 student-athletes to this week's National Championships.  Casey was a swimmer at Notre Dame University where he held several school records and was named Notre Dame's Scholar of the Year after his senior season.  Both of them delivered great speeches praising the immense value inherent in athletic competition.  It was a very fun and inspirational way to start off our meet here in Indiana!

Tomorrow, Claire swims the 50 free!  Karl has the day off tomorrow to continue to rest and prepare for his 100 butterfly which he will swim on Thursday.  I'll be tweeting results as quickly as I can all week!  Be sure to check in with our Facebook page as well.  I'll continue to upload more photos every day!

Also, tons of NWC pride at the meet!  We shared a table tonight with our friends from Whitworth.

Nationals Preview and Info

On Monday morning, we head for Indianapolis.  Connecting through Seattle and Chicago, to Indianapolis, our flights have us arriving in Indy at about 5:00pm, plenty of time to get to the pool in time for a warm-up to shake out any cobwebs from the day of travel.  The IUPUI Natatorium is one of the finest swimming and diving facilities in the world and has been host to several NCAA Championships.

On Tuesday, Claire and Karl will get another chance to swim before the Tuesday evening banquet dinner.  The banquet dinner will feature a guest speaker, and all the teams competing at the meet will be present for the event.  Afterwards, it's time to shave down and get ready to race!

Here is a day-by-day schedule for Karl and Claire:
Wednesday: Claire: 50 freestyle
Thursday: Karl: 100 butterfly
Friday: Claire: 100 breaststroke; Karl: 200 butterfly
Saturday: Claire: 200 breaststroke: Karl, 100 freestyle

Prelims for each session start at 10am Eastern Time, finals each night at 6pm Eastern Time.

Live results will be available.  I'll be posting links, photos, and other info on our Facebook and Twitter.  Be sure to check them frequently!  I will also be posting stories and photos to the blog throughout the week.

Nationals Selections

This morning, the official NCAA Selections for the 2014 DIII National Championships were released and Claire Collins and Karl Mering made the cut!  It was bittersweet, however, seeing our Men's 400 medley relay in 17th place, just one position away from making the top-16 cutoff.
For Karl, it's a 1st and 2nd place seed in the 100 and 200 butterfly, respectively.  Karl will also be competing in the 100 freestyle.  For Claire, it's 11th and 24th seed in the 100 and 200 breaststrokes, respectively.  She will also be competing in the 50 freestyle.  Why the 50 free?  Why not!  The air is very thin at the National Championships so why not have some fun?
At Nationals, once a swimmer is selected into the meet, he or she can swim up to 3 individual events, even without getting selected into the event or achieving an NCAA "B" time standard.  So, for Claire's 50 freestyle and for Karl's 100 freestyle, each has no pressure.  Each of them can cut loose and see what happens!  Taking the pressure off and and allowing them to focus their efforts on their primary events.

What happens next?

We have been training since Conference ended in preparation for the official selections to come out.  Now that we know that Claire and Karl are for sure going to the meet, we will keep training harder than ever!  The rest of the team has been very supportive and ever-present at practice, keeping our two All-America contenders motivated and inspired.  At the end of next week, we'll start backing off again, starting to rest up for the meet.
It is likely that Claire, Karl, Jenn and I will catch a flight to Indianapolis on Monday, March 17th.  The Meet takes place at the IUPUI Natatorium and begins on Wednesday, March 19th and goes through Saturday, March 22nd.  The NCAA covers our travel to and from the meet.  Conveniently, the meet will take place during the first week of our spring break.  At the conclusion of the meet, Claire and Karl will get to have a week to relax before coming back to Walla Walla for the second half of the semester.  You can buy tickets to the meet here.

One final note, as much as we conjecture about the NCAA selections process, it's extremely difficult to predict accurately how many individuals in each event will be selected into the meet.  Last year, only the top 13 or 14 individuals made it into the meet.  This year, the top 18-20 made the cut.  What will happen next year?  Who knows.  For all those people on the team who made "B" time cuts this year, all we can do is redouble our efforts and and see what happens with next year's selections!

NWC Championships Recap

In case you missed all the Fcaebook updates, tweets, and general buzz from the NWC Championships last weekend, here are some final numbers and stats:

• 15 Whitman records broken
• 6 Northwest Conference Meet Records broken
• 10 swimmers achieved NCAA "B" cuts
• 11 First place finishes 
• Tied for our highest overall team placings: 2nd for the Men, 3rd for the Women

Needless to say, it was an exciting weekend!  You can read through all the write-ups here.  Furthermore, you can watch the video of the each session of the meet again!  Just click here and follow the links.  The number of season bests and personal bests for our swimmers was off the charts.  I couldn't be more proud of the way that our swimmers performed.  The spirit and enthusiasm on the pool deck every session was unrivaled.  There is always a little bit of nervousness at the opening session of the meet but we arrived at the pool on Friday morning with all the energy and optimism in the world.  When we say that we're the best team in the pool, we really mean it.  

Of course, we could not have had the success that we did last weekend if we didn't have the support of all the parents, families, friends and alumni who came to cheer us on all weekend.  All the snacks for the team, all the smiles and laughter, everything that made the weekend one that none of us will forget.  It seems like every year we set the bar impossibly high and yet, somehow, we always manage to do even better the next year.  I'm already looking forward to the 2015 NWC Championships!

But our season isn't over!  After spending an extra night in Federal Way due to bad weather in the mountains, we arrived home in Walla Walla on Monday afternoon after a long detour through south through Portland to avoid the snow.  Today, we're back in the water!  The 10 people who have achieved "B" time cuts either individually or on relays will be back in the pool this afternoon at 4pm, along with anyone else on the team who wants to join them.  NCAA Selections will take place on Thursday, February 27th.  At this point, all we can do is cross our fingers and hope that the times we swam last weekend put us in a position to be selected into Nationals.

Here's a little overview about how selections work: the NCAA places a cap on the number of swimmers that get into the National Championships.  Each year, 146 women and 140 men get selected into the meet.  First, the NCAA selects the top 16 relays in each of the relay events.  Unfortunately, we already know that our Women's 200 medley relay is out of the running because they are currently 18th.  On the other hand, our Men's 400 medley relay is currently 11th so they still have a shot at getting selected into the meet.  Sunday, February 23rd is the last day that a Conference Championship meet can take place and there are still several conferences that will be having their Championship meets this weekend.  We'll be watching the results from those meets closely, hoping things fall our way!  

After the top 16 relays are selected into the meet, athletes from individual events are selected into the meet based on time.  Last year, roughly the top 12 or 13 times in each individual event made it into the meet.  This year we can speculate that it will be pretty similar, with the top 12-15 times in each individual event getting selected into the meet.  However, once an athlete is selected into the meet for an individual event, he or she can swim up to 3 total individual events so the total number of entries in each event is usually over 30.  If an athlete is selected into the meet on a relay, he or she can swim any and all relay events, as well as any individual events in which he or she has achieved a "B" cut.  

For now, we wait and train.  Next week, when the official NCAA selections are published, we'll know exactly who is going to make the trip to Indiana for the meet.  Conveniently, the meet is during the first week of our spring break, March 18th-22nd at the IUPUI Natatorium in downtown Indianapolis.   

Be sure to check our Facebook and Twitter for more fun news and updates about selections!  Go Whitman!

Drag Races

Last weekend, as we continued to taper for this weekend's Championship meet, we all gathered at the pool on Saturday morning as usual--but wearing a few extra layers.  Dating back to Jenn's time as a club coach, drag races have been a tradition during our taper since she arrived at Whitman in 2000.  Of course, in their original permutation drag races were about swimming while wearing drag: t-shirts, leggings, board shorts, etc.  But bring the term "drag" to a college team and, naturally, it becomes a double entendre.  Years later, the tradition continues with our men and women dressing in drag and swimming in drag.  We started things off with a skit before getting in the pool.  Once again, it was the sophomore boys who impressed the judges the most and strutted away the winners for the second year in a row.

Energy is high this week!  The excitement as everyone gets rested and ready for the meet has everyone buzzing and trying to contain themselves in preparation for the weekend.  See you in a few days!

NWC Championships

As you have probably already heard, Whitman is hosting the NWC Championships at the Weyerhauser King County Aquatic Center February 14-16.  Hosting this event is a big undertaking and a big thanks goes out to all of our athletics staff, alumni, parents, and fans who have helped put the meet together!

For information about the meet as well as links to live results, and a live video stream of the event, visit the NWC Champs page.

Spread the word!  There aren't very many opportunities to see NCAA DIII Swimming in action in the Pacific Northwest.  If someone you know is considering swimming at a DIII institution, or is interested in collegiate swimming in general, encourage them to come to the meet or watch the live video stream!  It's a great way to see collegiate swimming in personal and at one of the best venues in the nation.  It might not be as awe-inspiring as the Pac-12 Championships but I guarantee that all the student-athletes at the NWC Championships are every bit as passionate about their swimming and their teammates as their DI counterparts--and the winning times in many of the events are sure to be very impressive!

Prelims start at 10am each day, finals at 6pm on Friday and Saturday, 5pm on Sunday.  See you there!

Whitworth Meet and Conference

Last weekend we traveled to Spokane to take on Whitworth University.  After defeating their Men's team last year for the first time ever, we knew that they were hungry for a win this year.  As expected, they showed up ready to race.  Right from the medley relay, it was obvious that they were sharper than us, both on the Men's side and the Women's.  You can read a recap of the meet on our website, here.

Although last weekend's losses are disappointing, we still finish the season in second place in NWC dual meet standings for the Men and third for the Women.  Beyond the disappointment of not swimming as well as we had hoped, having a lackluster meet two weeks before the Conference Championships is not all bad.  Any shortages in motivation, any changes that still need to be settled in, any complacency in training--all of that is gone.  Now, we're more focused, motivated, and intentional with our training than ever before.  All those swims that didn't go as well as we had hoped are fueling the fire for these final two weeks of the regular season.

Counting today, we have just 10 days before we get on the bus for Federal Way, Washington, and the Northwest Conference Championships.  Throughout those 10 days, we'll taper down our yardage day by day, increasing rest intervals, and reducing--and eventually eliminating--dryland and weight training.  By the time we arrive at the King County Aquatic Center on the evening of February 13th, we'll be exactly where we want to be: rested and ready to race.  Add fast suits and shaving and we'll be unstoppable!

Entries for the Championships are due this Wednesday and a psych sheet for the meet will be available and distributed by Friday afternoon.  If you're curious about where the times stack up in the Conference right now, you can see a top-times report for the Northwest Conference here.  You can also use the USA Swimming database for a top-times report by clicking here.  

See you in Federal Way next weekend!

Cupcake Challenge!

Last weekend, we took advantage of our weekend off of competition by competing in the annual Cupcake Challenge, a series of feats of strength, skill, and strategy.  The man and woman who wins each challenge earns him or herself a cupcake which Jenn provided--consumed after practice, of course.

Events contested this year included the classics: most push-ups in one minute, most sit-ups in one minute, most pull-ups, and wall-sits.  As usual, we set a cap on the wall-sit at 8 minutes.  Two men and two women made it all the way.  We also added in a two minute burpee challenge this year.  Taking place after the push-up challenge, it was a very, very long two minutes.

Wall-sits in the upstairs hallway at the fitness center

After the dryland portion of the workout concluded, one cupcake each was awarded to the first man and woman in the pool.  As usual, there was a lot of wrestling, jockeying for position, and generally overly-competitive behavior that made all the coaches nervous.  Once in the pool, we did the dive and glide for distance off the blocks.  No kicking or propulsion of any kind is allowed: just dive and glide in a streamline.  Kevin Dyer ('13) was well-known as the ruler of the event.  He was routinely the only person to complete the entire 25 yards.  Without Kevin in the water, the competition was a little more balanced and Teylor Greff took home the cupcake after gliding just short of a whole 25.  After the dive and glide, the team grabbed their boards and put things in gear for king of the mountain: everyone leaves the wall at the same time for a 25 kick, with the last person (or two people) to the wall each 25 getting eliminated until only one remains. It came down to a battle of the butterfliers and in the end it was Melanie Notari who took down Karl Mering in the final 25 yards of kick.

The weekend of fun in the weight room and pool was welcomed after an exhausting training trip, two swim meets, and the end of the first week of second semester.  This week, we're back on the grind.

We head north to Spokane to face Whitworth University for our final NWC dual meet of the season this Saturday, February 1st, at 1pm.  Going into the meet, our Men are tied with Whitworth for 1st place with an untarnished 6-0 record.  If they win, it will be the second year in a row that the Whitman Men finish an NWC dual meet season without a loss.  Our Women will arrive in Spokane with a 5-1 record, tied for 2nd with Pacific Lutheran.  If our Women win, it will be their best NWC dual meet record ever and a sure tie or outright takeover of 2nd place in the NWC standings.  It is going to be a very exciting weekend up in Spokane!  We would love to see you up there wearing your blue and yellow!

The End of the Training Trip, Seniors, and Looking Ahead

After swimming 10,000+ yards last Thursday morning, getting on an airplane that afternoon, and then getting on a bus to Walla Walla that didn't arrive until 2am on Friday morning, the Whitman swim teams had a very busy few days last week.  After a wake-up swim late morning on Friday, the teams re-gathered at the pool on Friday afternoon for one of its biggest dual meets of the season against Pacific Lutheran University.  The men emerged from the meet victorious, the women fell.  Despite the dramatic Women's team scores, the meet was exceptionally close!  Getting out-touched in both relays, caused a dramatic 22-8 point spread for our women's team--amazing what .03 and .04 can do to make close dual meet seem like a blowout.  Despite the loss and the demands of the prior 24 hours, both the Women's team and the Men's team swam some outstanding mid-season times and rallied to make the meet the most electrifying of the season.  You can read more about the it here.

Saturday was senior day for our quartet of Swimmin' Women seniors: Claire Collins, Ellen Banks, Mel Notari, and Keller Hawkins.  The meet went Whitman's way with some great 1-2 finishes in several events for the Men and Women.  A full recap of the meet can be seen here.  It was great for our senior Women to walk away from their final home Whitman swim meet with a victory.  For the first season in years, Whitman will not be losing any men to graduation.

From Left to right, Ellen Banks, Melanie Notari, Claire Collins and Keller Hawkins

Saturday's win was especially sweet for Claire Collins, an English major from Burlingame, CA, who left our training trip three days early to get back to campus in time to complete the four days of written examinations required for graduation by the English department.  Claire plans on pursuing a Masters degree in education with the goal of becoming a high school English teacher.
Melanie Notari, a Politics major from Bellevue, WA, plans on pursuing a career in law or education after graduation--but not before spending some time traveling first.  Ellen Banks, an Anthropology major from Pasadena, CA, is looking to get involved in the NGO or non-profit world.  Finally, Keller Hawkins, a Religion major from Nashville, TN, is applying to divinity school and plans on becoming a pastor in United Methodist church.

Overall, the last 10 days were a whirlwind for us.  By the end of our training trip, our swimmers racked up over 82,000 yards in the pool, over 46 miles of swimming.  Add to that two sessions in the weight room and three sessions of dryland, plus a meet against the University of Redlands, and those numbers are even more impressive.  Capped off with two big NWC dual meets, it goes without saying that having yesterday off was welcomed by everyone (including the coaches).

We were back at it this morning with a 2 hour swim from 9-11 and we'll hit the water again this afternoon from 3-5.  Second semester classes begin tomorrow, as does our normal training schedule.

Thankfully, we have a weekend off of competition.  Our final NWC dual meet of the season takes place on February 1st at Whitworth University.  Heading into the meet, our Men's team is tied for first with Whitworth at 6-0 in NWC dual meets.  Our Women's team is tied for second with Pacific Lutheran at 5-1. If our men defeat Whitworth, it will be two undefeated seasons in a row.  Northwest Conference Championships (hosted by Whitman!) takes place two weeks later, February 14-16.

Run-Swim-Run

The last two days brought lots more fast swimming and sunny weather.  Today, we did one of our favorite sets! Not only did we swim 7300-7900 yards, depending on the stroke group, but we also ran on the CMS track that is adjacent to the pool.  The mid-distance and sprinters did 1200 meters of running, the distance swimmers, 3200 meters.  After nearly 3 hours, we wrapped up an awesome day of swimming and running.

Swim-Run transition

Yesterday and Sunday we also knocked out double-workouts, including another stint in the weight room yesterday morning.  On Sunday evening, we had the privilege of being hosting by Senior, Ellen Banks' aunt and uncle for dinner at their home in Pasadena.  Much thanks to them for hosting all of us!

Tonight, we wrap up our day with another swim workout, this time not led by us, but rather by our Captains.  As per usual, the captains will put their teammates through the ringer.  Historically, the captains have come up with toughest swim workout of the week.  This year is sure to equally intense!

Tomorrow we head to the University of Redlands for a dual meet scrimmage in the evening.  We'll be competing only in short events (100's of each stroke, 200 IM, and 200 yard relays) but after the long week of work, even the short events are sure to be challenging.  Redlands is home to Defending National Champions in both the Men's 200 IM and Women's 100 freestyle.  Those races are set to be extremely exciting for our sprinters and IMers!

After dinner at Ellen's aunt and uncle's house

Dane and Keller compare tans

Sunset at the pool on Monday night

Beach Day!

We spent the morning at Newport Beach and, as always, we had an awesome time.  Even if the weather had been cold and rainy, the team would have had a blast.  Fortunately, it was sunny and warm and we hit the beach as vigorously as we hit the pool!  Great thanks to our Senior, captain Ellen Banks for letting us use her family's beach house as home base for the day.

This evening, we backed off on the intensity a little and gave everyone some recovery while we ramp up for a big double workout tomorrow.  Just 4 days into the week and everything is going great!

Here are a couple photos from the beach today

Day 3!

Another day in the books and those goggle tan lines are really starting to take shape!  Our distance swimmers reached a season high 13,400 yards today between their two workouts, sprinters and mid-distance, a measly 11,700.  Add in 30 minutes of weights before this morning's workout and we really cranked out some high caliber work.  Adding together the last three days of workouts, and we have already stacked up over 30,000 yards (that's over 17 miles) of swimming, plus one dryland workout and one weight workout.  Despite the intensity of the practices, spirits--and caloric intake--remain high!

Tomorrow morning we hit the road for Balboa Island and the beach!  Though it won't exactly be a day off, with energy being spent running around the beach rather than swimming, it will no doubt be the mental break that the team needs to ensure the work we do in the pool stays focused and high quality.  The forecast calls for mostly sunny skies and highs near 70.  Just right!

Here are a few pictures from today's workouts

Shoulder warm-up before evening practice

Dane and Karl after warm-up at morning practice

Josie, Ellen, Keller, and Robby this morning

California Day 2!

Day two of the training trip and we got more fun and nice weather!  Between today's two workouts, we tallied up over 12,000 yards (6.8 miles), plus 15 minutes of dryland before the evening workout.  A well-earned dinner at Chipotle finished the evening for us.  We'll be back in the pool for two more workouts tomorrow before we get a morning off on Saturday and we head for the beach!

Here are a couple photos from today but there are several more on the Facebook page

California!

This morning we met up in sunny and warm Southern California for the annual training trip.  For several of our swimmers who traveled in from the mid-west and Northeast, 68 degrees and sunny was 80-90 degrees than where they were coming from.  Needless to say, we're enjoying the weather.  But the energy and fun that this group of student-athletes has when they get together would keep anyone happy.
After we got settled into the hotel and got some grocery shopping done, we headed to our first practice of 2014 at the Claremont McKenna-Harvey Mudd-Scripps pool, our home for the next 8 days.  It was great to see the whole team back in one place again after a long and well deserved break from classes!
We'll swim 15 times in the next 8 days, including a meet on Wednesday, January 15th at 4:30pm, against the University of Redlands at their home pool.  Then, after arriving back in Walla Walla on the 16th, we face our two toughest home dual meets of the season against Pacific Lutheran and University of Puget Sound.  All in all, it will be a productive and exciting next 10 days!  I'll be posting photos and updates from the trip every day so be sure to keep in touch with the Facebook page and check back here frequently.

Inconspicuous?  No.  But it wouldn't be the training trip without the old-school busses!

The CMS pool, our home for the next 8 days