This Saturday, members of the men and women’s swimming and diving teams headed to Ithaca College to compete in their last meet of the 2012-2013 regular season. With The Ivy League Championships for the women’s team on Feb. 28 and on March 7 for the men, this meet offered the Red the opportunity to test their late season progress in a controlled race environment. The Red posted impressive times and looks to swim faster as it progresess in the team’s taper.
“Everyone who chose to swim at the Ithaca meet was extremely happy with their results,” said sophomore swimmer Bethany Douglas. “It was a great confidence booster for all of those who swam and also for the rest of us on deck [to watch] our teammates go so fast.”
The meet helped add to the teams’ excitement for the championship season. The Red looks to improve upon the team’s regular season results in its most important race of the year.
“The Ithaca Meet really psyched up the team [for the] Ivy Championships,” said sophomore swimmer Nicole Jibrine. “We went some really fast times and we are motivated to only get faster at Ivies. Even members of the team who didn’t swim at Ithaca went to support the team. The spirit and enthusiasm [were] really high — it will only get better and more exciting at Ivies.”
The taper has helped to motivate the Red to go faster at Ivies. This resting and development period has given the team time to reflect and work toward being more and more competitive.
“The team is really excited to be nearing the Championship and end of the season. We’ve had a fantastic year filled with intense training and swim meets that came down to the last race. We even endured double practices everyday in Puerto Rico over winter break. Throughout the season, the team grew as athletes, trainers, and competitors and we can’t wait to show how far we’ve come at the end of the season,” Jibrine said.
As practice continue to become shorter and shorter, the Red has begun to post even more explosive times then they thought they could achieve.
“Taper is the best time of the year. Practices are less yardage and shorter than normal, which is great, but it’s even more fun to see how fast you can go while doing sprints during taper practices. We sometimes surprise ourselves on [how] fast we can push it even in Helen Newman,” Douglas said.
“Taper has been amazing. It’s the one time of the year where you get to be relaxed and fully prepared to swim fast,” Jibrine added. “We are already seeing faster swims during practice. [Taper is] also helping us grow as a team because we aren’t as tired or sore — we have so much energy, which makes practice a really fun environment.”
As the team’s excitement and competitiveness continues to develop, the Red looks to post extremely fast times in their Championship races and bring back an Ivy League Championship to Ithaca.
Original Author: John McGrorty