Women swimmers get lapped by Williams

Author: Allison Ortega

Riding a six-meet winning streak in a season characterized by unprecedented success, the Women's swimming and diving team entered the NESCAC championship at Williams College's Muir-Samuelson Pool in strong contention for victory.

In the meet's opening event, Barbara Van Der Veer '07, Marika Ross '08, Lindsey Dattels '09 and Katie Remington '10 started the team off with a step in the right direction as they claimed victory in the 200 Freestyle relay.

The ever-impressive Ross followed up with an individual win setting Middlebury and pool records in the 50-yard Butterfly just two events later. Despite two wins in the meet's first three events, the women found themselves in second place behind the Williams Ephs when the first day of competition ended.

On Saturday, during the second day of competition, the Panthers once again brought several spectacular performances. In the 1000-yard Freestyle, Sara Cowie '08 took home the NESCAC crown, while Katie Soja '10 finished just behind in second place.

Meanwhile, Ross continued to dominate the competition as she picked up her third victory of the Championship in the 100-yard Butterfly. Nevertheless, the Ephs maintained their lead and Amherst picked up enough points to move into second place.

Cowie and Ross picked up right where they left off on the final day of competition. First, Cowie claimed her second individual title in the 1650-yard Free. Then, Ross turned in perhaps her most spectacular swim of the championships in the 200-yard Butterfly. Not only did she win the race, but again she did so in record-setting fashion.

With her time of 2:01:25, Ross set Middlebury, Muir-Samuelson pool, NESCAC Conference, and NESCAC Championship meet records.

In the team competition, however, the Williams Ephs did not release their stranglehold on the top spot and retained the NESCAC crown for the seventh consecutive year. Yet the meet was still a success for the Panthers.

"Our team really came together to both get pumped up and to pump each other up," said Van der Veer.

In total, thirteen Panthers qualified for the NCAA tournament, a number which is the largest in school history. "It was an incredible meetÖthe NESCAC is undoubtedly the fastest conference in the nation, so we should definitely be proud," said Cowie. This contingent will head to Houston, Texas March 8-10.