When the women's swimming and diving team stepped out onto the deck for the first time this season, it knew it was facing a significant challenge. The team had lost many seniors, including its top breaststroker, graduate Kristin Horton.
Ignoring an uncertain future, the Jumbos stepped up and picked up a commanding victory in their first dual meet of the season against Clark. Five meets later, the team found itself undefeated - a position that the Jumbos had not been in for the last two years.
"The dynamic on the team was great," senior tri-captain Sarah Hertzog said. "Swimming is a very individualized sport, but the girls this year swam not just for themselves, but also to score points for the team. It was a great team atmosphere and a fun season in general."
While the schedule is usually less challenging in the early part of the season, squads in the previous two years have not been able to go through this beginning unscathed. Wellesley in particular has often given the Jumbos trouble, as the swimmers have lost to Wellesley for the past two years.
This year, however, Wellesley was unable to continue its winning streak, and with the victory, the Jumbos proved that they were out to meet bigger goals this season than they had in the recent past.
"The Wellesley meet was the highlight of my season," senior tri-captain Miranda Eagles said. "When we beat them I just said that was it. That is all I needed to have this year be awesome."
The Jumbos continued to enhance their record with wins against Wesleyan and Trinity in a double-header weekend on Jan. 19 and 20 respectively. The streak would not last forever, though, as the second half of the season was riddled with injuries and illness.
The biggest blow to the team was the loss of sophomore Mika Sumiyoshi to a knee injury, as she was the only swimmer to qualify for Nationals last year. Directly following the injury to Sumiyoshi, Bates brought the Jumbos their first loss of the season, 106-192 on Jan. 26.
If that score was not bad enough for the team's morale, it also knew it had only two days of rest before an evening meet against a strong MIT group. However, the team pulled together and swam a competitive meet against the Engineers, losing by only twenty points, 137-157 on Jan. 29.
By the next weekend, the squad had regrouped even further and was able to pull out a victory against Brandeis 165-127, relying heavily on a core group of freshman who had been putting points on the board for the team all season.
"Everyone did a great job this season," Bigelow said. "The underclassmen really stepped it up for us when we needed them too, they are definitely a strength of the team, which is good for the future."
A meet against Williams marked the return of Sumiyoshi, as well as the close of the regular season, giving the team a 6-3 record for the season, an improvement of last years 5-4 finish.
"We had a really strong dual meet season," coach Nancy Bigelow said. "We had a lot of versatile kids and strong leadership this season."
Heading into the NESCAC championship, the team did not have the unrealistic visions of a victory. They set attainable, yet high goals. They reached their goal of sixth place in the meet, again an improvement from the past two years. The team also placed higher than Colby, a team it had not seen in the regular season, but that Bigelow knew would be difficult competition.
"The team accomplished what I expected they would at the championships," Bigelow said. "Everyone did what they needed to do and everyone left the meet proud and excited."
All that was left was to redeem themselves from their earlier performance against Bates. While the Jumbos did not place above Bates (fifth place), the team fought hard throughout the entire championship weekend to stay with them, at some points even leading the team.
"Competing against Bates in the end was great," Eagles said. "We deserved the place we got because we fought hard for it."
All in all, the team this season showed resilience and a newfound sense of unity, which buoyed it to a successful season. This can be attributed largely to the strong leadership of the upper classmen, particularly the three senior captains Eagles, Hertzog, and Joan Vollero.
"The juniors stepped up with strong leadership to help the seniors, since there were only three of them," Bigelow said. "But the seniors really gave it their all for the team. It is a big accomplishment to stick with it for four years and I am really proud of them. They were great team captains."
While this marks the end of the season for most of the team, two swimmers and a diver have one more meet left. Sumiyoshi, freshman Erica Weitz, and sophomore diver Beth Wecksell will be competing at the National championship meet in two weeks.
"I am really excited and am just looking to do my best," Wecksell said. "I didn't expect to be going to Nationals. I really didn't know how I compared to the rest of the division and the rest of the nation. The coaches told me I would make it but I didn't really believe them, but I guess they were right."
Next year, Bigelow has high hopes for the team, as the freshmen from this year show the promise of only getting faster. That along with the possibility of a few new talented recruits, gives the team the potential to improve on this year's finish.
"I had a fun year with a great group of girls," Hertzog said. "If the team next year is anything like it was this year, they will probably do even better than this season"
It is likely next year that the three captains will be on the sidelines, cheering their former team on.
"When I look back at my four years of college, this will be the first and most important thing I remember," Eagles said. "I am sad to leave, but I am sure you'll be seeing me drop in for a few meets next year."
