Courtesy of Bowdoin Athletics

Last weekend, the women’s swimming and diving team finished seventh overall at the NESCAC championships held at Colby College. Natalie Garre ’28 became the first Polar Bear in history to win the 500 freestyle at the championships, breaking a conference meet record set in 2011 and setting a new pool record of 4:47.63. Garre took home NESCAC Rookie of the Year for her performance.

“[Breaking the 500 record] is just so amazing,” Garre said. “Every time I’m swimming the 500, it’s so long. But my teammates are there, up and down the pool the entire time. I [go up to] breathe and see how excited they are for me. I try to go fast for them, and their support makes it all worth it and is so inspiring.”

Garre also set a pool record with a time of 4:21.03 in the 400 IM and set a new meet record in her championship swim in the 1650 (mile) event with a time of 16:35.58.

She gave credit to the Polar Bears’ bonding and energy for preparing them for the championship.

“The team has so many fun traditions to get the women’s team hype since we’re the first to go before the men, so we have a team hype video that the men put together for us,” Garre said. “And then we also have other traditions, like you make posters with a friend…. Everyone was so excited, and I think that helped the team stay really energized.”

Sadie Smith ’25 went into her fourth and final NESCAC championship with the goal of doing her best for the team and having fun while doing so. She accomplished both, as she finished second in the three-meter dive.

“In years past, I’ve treated [NESCAC championships] as a more individualized meet, because I had used the meet to qualify for NCAA Regionals, but since I prequalified for that meet, I did not have to worry about that at all,” Smith said. “It was a super fun, low-stress, zero-expectations meet. I was just like, ‘I’m gonna get out there and perform the best that I can and try to score as many points as I can for my team.’ I am really happy with how I performed, and I think we had much more team mentality going into NESCACs this year.”

With Smith moving on to NCAA regionals, she and the rest of the qualifiers have another month of work ahead of them.

“[The next training block] definitely feels much harder because … it’ll just be the people who are swimming at [NCAAs],” Smith said. “I think it’ll just be a big mental game. I mean, hopefully going into Regionals, our mental skills will be super strong, because we’ve been diving by ourselves for probably two weeks at that point. But most of all, I’m just excited.”

Elizabeth Walsh ’26, who placed third in the 200 IM and second in the 400 IM during the NESCAC championships, is also part of the group heading to Regionals. She is proud of the team’s performance at NESCACs and is excited to see what’s next.

“I think [the meet] was great for Bowdoin,” Walsh said. “We’re super grateful for all our coaches and teammates and everybody who’s pushed us and supported us throughout the entire season. We’re looking forward to keeping that good energy going.”