|
Pac-10 In Print
• USC Swim USC Women's Swim
Written By: Kristen Lahey The words "winter break" or "Christmas Vacation" to the average college student are interpreted as time off from a rigorous class schedule and a much-needed break from the stress of finals week. But to a college swimmer there is one thing that this "break" always means. This is the time when there is no school to interrupt training. This time of year is anticipated by coaches and dreaded by swimmers everywhere. The weeks following Dec. 25 are always painful, yet satisfying. With every excruciating practice we can look to our fellow teammates and grin because we know that we are becoming that much stronger. Every day we push our limits and realize a little bit more potential. We may complain during a long practice or a hard set, but when we get out of the water there is a sense of satisfaction that could never be duplicated. Working this hard has good and bad effects. In the short term everyone is more tired and sore, but in the long term we gain strength and the most important thing of all, confidence. Another way to gain confidence is participating in meets. This weekend the Trojan Women competed in their 11th and 12th meets of the season against Cal and Stanford, respectively. Even when we are all tired from winter training it is always important to see how our team measures up to others. On Friday we swam Cal and things started out very well. Not only did our 'A' 400 Medley Relay break the pool record and win, but our 'B' relay placed third and out-touched the Cal 'B' relay. After the first relay things got a little rockier, but our breaststrokers did very well. Our distance freestylers also did very well, Whitney Hentzen placed second in the 1000 and 500 and Brittany Allen swam her season best in the 1000 to get third. Luckily the next day the Stanford meet was a bit more interesting as the meet marked the last duel meet our senior women will participate in at USC. It was a perfect day for honoring these swimmers for their four years of leadership and dedication. There were some really exciting and close races, which made the meet very fun to watch and enjoyable to participate in. Senior Whitney Hentzen again posted fantastic in-season times and won the 500 free and placed second in the mile. Senior Emily Goetsch won the 100 fly and placed second in the 200 fly. Rebecca Soni won the 100 and 200 breast in unusually close races. Rachael Waller won the 200 free and barely lost the 100 free to Brooke Bishop. This week we are excited to get back to work to finish our season with some great meets. Since my freshman year it has been a tradition to wear fast suits at the UCLA meet and light it up. After UCLA the team will go to Pac-10s and then a few of us will head on the NCAAs. Fight On! Kristen Lahey
Previous Student-Athlete Blogs
August 2008:
2007-2008 School Year:
|
