After wins against Trinity and Wesleyan last Saturday, both the men’s and the women’s swimming and diving teams have only one more regular season meet left, a match-up with rival Colby on Saturday, before postseason meets begin in February.
After Saturday’s meet, Bridget Killian ’16 was named the Small College Athletic Conference Performer of the Week for winning first place in each of her freestyle events and setting personal bests for the season.
Both the men’s and women’s teams have been motivated this year by the exciting end to last year’s season, when Caroline Watt ’18, Mariah Rawding ’16 and members of the women’s 200- and 400-freestyle relays made it all the way to the DIII Championships. After such a successful last season, the teams aim to reach the same level of competition and fitness by this year’s championship.
Senior captains Olivia Pfeifer ’16 and Lela Garner ’16 both noted that the team’s intensity has heightened this year, and practices have become much more difficult. Previously, they said, Head Coach Brad Burnham eased the team into the season in the beginning, while practices would gradually become more demanding; this year was different, with difficult and exhausting practices from day one.
“We work a lot harder, we practice a lot harder and we all motivate each other a lot,” said Pfeifer. “We’ve had a lot of really tough practices and a lot of really tough meets and people have really kept positive. I think that is probably the highlight for me so far.”
Both the men and women captains are impressed by the first years, who all come from different swimming backgrounds and levels, and have already broken school records. On the men’s team, first year Karl Sarier ’19 broke a team record for IM in the first meet. Beyond this, Lagasse notes that there have been impressive performances across the board and that they gained many valuable distance and IM swimmers this season.
Perhaps the most notable meet of the season was against Bates on January 15. The Bobcats have skyrocketed in competitiveness over time. Last year their women placed second in the NESCAC, and their men placed fifth. Given Bates’ success, the Polar Bears were happy with their result. In the end, the men came incredibly close to beating them, but lost by a point in the last race of the event.
“Working together, watching the men almost win against Bates, lose by a point…” said Pfeifer, “those kind of things motivate everyone to keep working hard even if there are point differentials.”
The meet revelaed both what the Polar Bears needed to improve on as well as the team’s competitive spirit, which will be needed to compete with higher-ranked teams in future meets. Both teams consist of 27 members, with 25 swimmers and two divers on each. Over Winter Break the teams spent seven days training in Florida before coming back to Bowdoin to continue practicing before the end of winter break.
“It’s the best training environment I’ve ever been a part of,” captain Lyle Anderson ’16 said.
For both the men and the women, improvement is the goal. Senior captain John Lagasse ’16 explains that rather than having specific place or time goals, it is all about improving individually and as a team.
“I would say our team goal is just to continue to improve,” said Lagasse. “Whether it is in the pool timewise or out of the pool, just to have the best dynamic we can…We are definitely achieving that thus far.”
Burnham preaches this outlook to the members of the team.
“We tend to look for just how much better we can get,” said Burnham. “It is a matter of improving every day, getting a little better and trying to put together the best races they can.”
The meets in the beginning of the season are not as significant as those at the end, aside from showing swimmers and divers what they need to improve.
“Swimming is a sport that really peaks toward the end of the season,” said Burnham.
However, Garner notes that in the past few meets people have been improving in speed which makes them more excited for NESCACs.
While both teams have suffered setbacks from injuries and illnesses such as mono, both captains attest that they appear to be coming back stronger than ever for the end of the season.
On January 30, both teams will compete against Colby in one last effort before the NESCAC Championship. Garner notes that the Colby pool is much more shallow than Bowdoin’s, but that this will be a perfect opportunity to get one more race practice in. After this last race, the teams will start the taper, which includes practices with less yardage, more sprints and lighter workouts so that the swimmers and divers are rested and ready to race.
One goal that the men have for NESCACs, besides improvement across the board, is to beat Bates, which they achieved two years ago but fell short of last year. The women are looking forward to having their very talented divers, Christine Andersen ’17 and Rebecca Stern ’19, compete this year, as last year both divers were injured. Pfeifer notes that at this point, preparation for NESCACs becomes a mental game after having done everything possible to improve throughout the season. The pressure is on, as Garner said, “Only our last meets at NESCACs matter.”