Today is the first day of the New England Small College Athletic Conference championships, at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. The 11 NESCAC schools have descended upon the 16 lanes of Greason Pool for the weekend. By Sunday night, the conference’s strongest women’s swim team will be definitively determined.
Although the Cardinals are not expected to be able to seriously challenge the Ephs for the conference title, the Wesleyan women are still hoping to surprise many of the conference’s powerhouses with a strong performance.
The goal this year is sixth place, which would put the Cardinals right in the middle of the conference standings. To accomplish this goal, the team would need to improve upon last year’s placing by two spots and the previous year’s placing by four spots. It would also mean having to beat two teams the Cardinals have never defeated, the Conn. College Camels and the Hamilton College Continentals.
“I think we have a good chance to [do it],” said Catherine Kast ’09.
“[Strong late season performances] have definitely given us confidence for our championship season,” said Caitlin Bethlahmy ’09, noting the Cardinals dual meet 7-4 record.
The performances of many Cardinal relays and individuals are exciting to the team and its fans. Most significantly, the Cardinals have a relay that has hit the NCAA Division III National’s ‘B’ Cut in their 200-yard medley relay squad. This team consists of Bethlahmy ’09, Amanda Shapiro ’08, Kate Krems ’08, and Lauren Goldman ’08. This young team not only has a chance to chase national glory in a year or two, but can hope to bring in 56 or 54 points given to a second or third place relay respectively.
At NESCACs, a winning relay will give a team 64 points, a second place 56, and a third place 54 points. In the relays, the points continue to decrease by intervals of two or four through 24th place, which is worth two points. The point system in the individual events is the same as in the relays, except all point values are halved, so first place is worth 32, second place 28, third place 26, down to 24th place, which is worth one point.
Shapiro, in addition to swimming on the 200-yard medley relay, has a great shot to score 32 points in the 50-yard Breaststroke. Not only has she set school and Freeman Athletic Center records in the 50-yard breaststroke, but she is also the top NESCAC performer in that event.
There are also high expectations for Krems, who has the potential to wrack up the points in the 100 and 200-yard butterfly events, and Bethlahmy. Bethlahmy has won all three of her events at Wesleyan’s final pre-NESCACs competition, a dual meet against the Coast Guard Academy. She should be contending for high placing in both the 100 and 200-yard backstrokes, and possibly in the 500-yard freestyle.
Yet another Cardinal to watch is Eliza Jones ’07. She has a great chance of scoring in all three sprint freestyle events (50-yard, 100-yard and 200-yard). With a top-15 showing in all three events, she could earn 30 or 40 points for the Cardinals.
The Cardinals hope to come home from the cold of Brunswick, Maine this weekend with a few individual titles, some high-placing relays, personal records, and at least a sixth place showing for the team. While nothing is certain, there is good reason to be optimistic about the Cardinals’ chances, as they are a young and getting better every year. This weekend’s meet is an early opportunity to step up and reflect the program’s rapidly increasing strength.
Leave a Reply