Most students on the 5Cs avoided the wet weather this past Saturday as much as possible. The Pomona-Pitzer’s women’s swim team, unfortunately, did not have that luxury, as they had to swim under the rain at Occidental College in their final dual meet of the season. The Sagehens endured the unpleasant conditions to do what they do best by beating Occidental 143-81. With the win, the team brought their conference record on the season to 4-3. This meet served as the final tune-up for the team before the three-day SCIAC championship meet, which begins February 21st in Long Beach.
This year has been slightly turbulent for the women’s swim team. The Sagehens graduated multiple point-scorers from last year’s championship meet, and several key swimmers, including two-time All-American Naomi Laporte PO ‘11, have swum this year through nagging injuries. The result of this was a slower start to this year compared to seasons past. In particular, a dual meet against Cal Lutheran in early January that appeared to be easily winnable ended in a disappointing loss. The team has also dealt with weeks where the flu made a run through the team and, for a few days earlier this month, the pool was too chlorinated to allow the swimmers to practice regularly.
Fortunately, things have been turning around as of late.
Head Coach Bruce Brown said, “We were able to regroup well after a bit of an upset… [now] we look strong in all our events, and our relays are really coming along well.”
Against Occidental, the Sagehens established control early and never let go. After the 400 medley relay team of Kimi Ide-Foster PI ‘10, Sarah Tuggy PO ‘13, Charlotte Dohrn PO ‘13, and Laporte cruised to a four-second victory over the second-place Occidental squad, the Sagehens were dominant, winning all but one swimming event on the day.
Brown stated after the meet that he was “particularly pleased with the progress we made against Occidental, especially with the hard training we had this past week.”
In particular, Brown pointed to two “pretty amazing” swims from Dana Kingman PI ‘11, who won grueling events in the 1650 freestyle and the 200 butterfly against Occidental. These swims were even more impressive considering that Kingman spent the fall semester studying abroad and has only been training with the team for five weeks. She looks to be rounding back her form from last year, when she made the All-SCIAC team in the 400 individual medley. Brown also noted that Lizzie Aby PO ‘11 looked strong against Occidental, as she showed off her versatility in winning the 200 individual medley and the 500 freestyle.
This year’s freshman class of swimmers has boosted the women’s swim team all year, and Saturday was no exception. Dohrn, who usually specializes in the butterfly, took out the 200 freestyle fast and held on for a two-second victory over the field. She also contributed to two relay victories, and will continue her role as a relay stalwart at the SCIAC meet. Tuggy showcased her endurance in the 200 breaststroke, as she kept getting stronger throughout the race until she finished first by over three seconds. Other notable freshmen performances include Julia Ticus PO ’13, who convincingly won her specialty race in the 200 backstroke, and Hannah Miller PI ‘13, who placed second in the 200 and 500 freestyles and will look to contribute big points to the Sagehens’ distance efforts in two weeks’ time.
Maybe the most exciting race of the meet was the showdown between Kristen Boysen PO ‘10 and Occidental’s Lauren Howarth in the 100 freestyle. After a narrow defeat to Howarth in the 50 freestyle earlier in the day, Boysen swam with purpose in the latter event. She turned just ahead of Howarth at the midway point of the race and slightly extended her lead into the finish as she stopped the clock at 55.83 to Howarth’s 56.41. The time was right next to Boysen’s season best, as were many of the times for the Sagehens this weekend.
This meet looks to be a harbinger of good things to come, as the team starts to enter their taper and begins their final preparations for the SCIAC meet later this month. Brown has high hopes for his team for this meet.
“The goal now is to prepare for conference and see if we can accumulate enough points [there] to beat Cal Lutheran and maybe surprise some other teams [CMS and Redlands] in some races.”
With several swimmers looking to make the championship finals at conference in multiple events, and all relays poised to fight for top-3 places and All-SCIAC honors, Brown’s aspiration just may become a reality.
