The freshmen of the women's swimming and diving team made their presence known in Saturday's 151-119 victory over the Trinity Bantams.
It was the first meet of the year for the Jumbos and they came out free of any early-season nerves, winning their first five events of the day before Trinity edged a victory in the 100-yard butterfly, one of only four event wins for the Bantams all day.
Pre-meet jitters were forgotten right away as two freshmen - Megan Kono and Maureen O'Neill - won two events each. Kono won the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:59.65 and the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:17.69. O'Neill was ahead of the pack, winning the 50 freestyle in 24.68 seconds and the 100 free in 55.73.
"We were really strong in our freestyle events where I thought we were going to do well," coach Nancy Bigelow said. "I think we won almost all of the freestyle events. That was definitely our strength on Saturday."
The veteran swimmers were impressed with the success of the freshmen and provided their own wisdom to help them get over whatever nerves they might have had.
"I try to talk to everyone during the meet and let them know that it's just our first meet," senior tri-captain Renee Nicholas said. "We also make sure they know that even though they should focus on their own individual events, they need to cheer from the sidelines and support their teammates.
"It helps them focus on other things than their own race and makes them less nervous," she continued. "A lot of them were nervous but they seemed to be nervous and excited at the same time, which is a good thing."
Two other swimmers won multiple events - sophomore Meredith Cronin and senior tri-captain Claire Pigula. Cronin, coming off a breakout freshman year, started the season picking up where she left off, as she won the 1,000 freestyle in 11:06.22 and the 100 backstroke in 1:02.87.
Pigula won both the 50 breaststroke (33.75) and the 100 breaststroke (1:13.49), making the most of her last season as a Jumbo thus far.
"I think she's hoping to do better than last season and have a great last year in her swimming career," Nicholas said of her fellow tri-captain. "She's our strongest breaststroker right now."
Diving was once again a strong point for the Jumbos, who won both of their events. Senior Kendall Swett won the 1-meter with a high score of 267.82. Considering her path back to the water provided some difficulties with a concussion recovery, the results proved to be sweeter than usual.
"I was only in the water for a week before the meet because I had a mild concussion so I've only been practicing for a little bit," Swett said. "I was pretty pleased with how I was able to do. I was just trying to have fun and work on jumping high."
Their upcoming week will prove to be a difficult one since they have to prepare not only for a Nov. 28 meet against the talented Wellesley Blue, but also for the MIT Invitational on Nov. 30.
"We just need to stay healthy and keep working hard," Bigelow said. "It's tough having the Thanksgiving break, because now they have to swim when they're home, which isn't the easiest to do when families travel."
While Trinity is a team that lacks depth, rival Wellesley will provide a much tougher challenge. One swimmer to look out for is junior sprinter Savannah Johnson, who qualified for Nationals last season. The 50 breaststroke is her best event according to Bigelow. In general, the Blue match up very well with the Jumbos.
"We have some similar swimmers," Bigelow said. "It's just a matter of who's going to perform that night. It will probably come down to the last couple of events."
