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.