On Saturday Jan. 17th, the Elizabethtown College Blue Jays women’s swim team traveled to Chestertown, Md. to compete against Washington College. The Blue Jays fell to the Shorewomen in a 129-71 defeat. Despite the loss, the Blue Jays pulled through with many personal records.
Graduate student, Kimberly Cosgrove won the 1000-yard freestyle with a season-best of 11:26.24. Cosgrove led the 1000-yard freestyle to out-swim Washington’s Mackenzie Gaze by more than eight seconds. This season-best is exactly four seconds faster than her previous best of 11:30.24. Cosgrove was also third in the 200 free with a time of 2:09.13. As a captain, Cosgrove inspires her teammates to work hard and never give up. Senior Hunter Smith swam the 200 I.M. and the 100-yard butterfly. These events are back-to-back so Smith looks towards Cosgrove for inspiration. Cosgrove recites a phrase before every meet, “If you have a lane, you have a chance.” This quote inspires and encourages Smith and her teammates. “When going up against talented teams, such as Washington,” Smith said. “It is important to remember that each time you get in the pool you have an opportunity to make yourself better.” Smith is “very excited” to end her career as an Etown swimmer with “such a talented group of ladies.” She is hopeful to see her teammates swim personal bests and earn top 16 swims at Landmark Championships. Ending her collegiate swimming career with personal records and top times would be a highlight to her career.
The Etown women swept the 100-yard breaststroke led by junior Amanda Long with a time of 1:12.25. Long was closely followed by teammates first-year Dru Schneider and sophomore Mariselle Parisi swimming 1:15.56 and 1:18.98, respectively. Like Cosgrove, Long swam a season-best time in her win. Long outswam five opponents to claim her victory by 2.2 seconds. Long also showed her speed in the 50 free, earning second with a time of 27.26 to Washington’s Alicia Howard. Coming to the end of the season, Long will be spending her time focusing on working hard and being ready for Landmark Championships.
Sophomore Sarah Alps swam the 100-yard backstroke and one leg in the 200-yard freestyle relay as well as the 1000-yard freestyle. Mainly focusing on sprint events, swimming the 1000-yard freestyle was very different for Alps. Alps swam a time of 13:17.79. Alps believes she performed very well, especially for her first time swimming a longer distance event. She wants to work on building her endurance over time to begin swimming longer events. Working on her endurance will also help her performances in the sprinting events. Looking into the future, Alps is excited for the Landmark Conference meet in February and to see her teammates drop time and improve. Sophomore Katie Derreth is also excited to see her teammates perform well at the Landmark Conference Championships. Though, on Saturday she did not achieve any personal records in her events, she will use this meet to learn and improve. She believes that everyone tried their hardest and did their best on the team’s first meet back since winter break. She will be working on her stroke and breathing to continue to improve her speed which will help her break her personal records. She has high hopes for her teammates and herself at the Landmark Conference meet in February.
The women’s record to date is 3-4. Etown hosts McDaniel College in their final home meet of the season Saturday at 1:00 p.m. The team has two more meets before Landmark Conference Championships starting on Friday, Feb. 13th and ending on Sunday, Feb. 15th.
