Collegiate Triathlon Nationals 2011 - Tuscaloosa

Tuscaloosa, Alabama

April 9, 2011

A new location for USAT’s Collegiate Nationals!

1500M SWIM --- 40km BIKE --- 10km RUN

HOWDIE!!!!

Well well… after 2 years in Lubbock for Collegiate Tri Nats, we finally moved on to a new location.

I’m keeping these results short and not writing too much about the travels and tribulations leading up to the race.

Swim= 22:16.02 – 10^th Fastest Female out of the water!

Swim HR Avg = 188

After all that swim training for NCAA’s, I’m really glad that I ended up with a top 10 finish out of the water. Especially because last year’s swim was shortened, I really wanted to dominate this one. I came out of the water and dropped my goggles and stupidly turned around for them and lost a few seconds. But I liked those goggles, so it was worth it. And then I headed up for the long swooping run up to the transition area while pounding my feet on the asphalt path.

T1= 1:20

Bike=1:17:29 – slow

Average power = NA

Average speed = 19.2

Bike HR Avg = 177

Not nearly what I wanted.

But all things considered, like the fact that I biked 3 times before this race, I was okay with it.

It’s frustrating when you know you’re capable of going faster, but your legs just aren’t there. I couldn’t even get my heart rate high because my legs couldn’t work that hard.

And I was also missing Power due to a dead battery in the hub.

Sweetest moment ever: speeding down the bridge highway and watching a helicopter hovering at eye-level with me as it gets a sweet action shot of everyone zooming by in the lead for the women.

T2= :51.07

Run = 55:43.06 – death

Run pace = 9 min/mile

Run HR Avg = 181

The run was excruciating and hot, there’s not much more I can say about that hellish run.

Overall time = 2:37:41

Well, compared to my 2:18:12 from Westchester that was no bueno. But like I mentioned earlier, it was good considering I trained for the bike/run practically zero hours for this race. It was also good considering the women’s race was in about 95 degree heat because our wave didn’t start until 10am, 2.5 hours after the guy’s heat at 7:30am. So not fair. But it was a bigger challenge for us all and I think everyone did a good job overall!

Check out the Stevens Triathlon Team page for the race report for the whole team’s efforts in Alabama! http://sites.google.com/site/stevenstriathlonteam/race-reports

For a final note the event was televised on CBS Sports Network!!!!! The men’s and women’s races were shown April 29 in separate one-hour broadcasts, with the women’s race airing at 10 p.m. ET, followed by the men at 11 p.m. ET. The Stevens team had a viewing party to watch the race on national television and it was awesome!!

NCAA Division III Swimming & Diving Championships 2011

NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS – 3/23/2011 – 3/26/2011

Here are my individual event results for the NCAA Division 3 Championships held in Knoxville, Tennessee!!!!!!!

It’s my final year of swimming and I finally made it to NCAAs!!!!!!!

First Double Taper. First NCAAs. The pressure was on!

Wednesday AM:

500 Freestyle = 5:09.62 (41^st place)

I went in seeded with a 5:04 from Empire 8s and I was very nervous going into it. I happened to be the first Stevens swimmer to swim anything at this meet and I was setting the tone. I wasn’t put in a slow heat; I was actually in lane 8 of a quicker heat and I think that killed my confidence. Another bad note was Trevor telling me right before the race that this was apparently going to hurt really bad because I was on a double taper. Great, that was exactly what I didn’t need to hear as I walked to the blocks!

The good news: I didn’t get last!! And the bad: well, yeah, it hurt really bad… especially after the first 200. I went out in a 1:59.79 which was good! Then it went downhill from there and I just couldn’t hold it like I did a month earlier. The double taper didn’t bode well for me and as soon as I finished the race I knew I had to keep my confidence up and trust that I still had the speed I needed for my other events.

Thursday AM:

Off day to concentrate on my races for Friday!

Friday AM:

200 Butterfly = 2:04.97 (14^th place)

flying!

: O

 AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

MOST AMAZING SWIM OF MY LIFE… hands down. I will never ever forget turning around and looking at that clock, then looking over at Trevor freaking out. Words cannot describe those feelings. Needless to say I started bawling tears of joy and went over to give Trevor a hug right away. I couldn’t believe it!

My splits were a 28.29, 31.13, 32.59, 32.96. I went out under a minute and pushed through the pain on the back half like never before. On my last underwater kick I just kept telling myself to not give up and get to that wall as fast as I could. So worth it.

I ended up getting the NCAA A-cut by 1 one-hundredth of a second which didn’t occur to me until after I was out of the pool from warm-down. Another thing that didn’t occur to me right away was that I was the proud new owner of an individual Stevens record because I had beat Sian’s time from last year. Huzzah!

The nice icing on the cake was Trevor stopping me on the wall as I was warming down and telling me that I was 14^th and I was going back to swim at night.

Unbelievable. I went from having the attitude that I just didn’t want to get dead last to completely owning the race and making it back to finals. I amazed myself!

800 Freestyle Relay (200 free) = 1:55.08

We had to swim this relay during the preliminary heats in the morning session so I was fortunate to have it coming off of the high from my 200fly. We went into it knowing that we weren’t swimming next to the best of the best that would be swimming at night.. so we had to give it our all as if they were swimming right there with us. Teammates for this relay included Laura Barito leading it off, then Hayley Hatfield, myself, then Sian Pearson bringing it home. We wound up with a 7:33.06 and a new school record! We were 2^nd going into the last heat at night and our fingers were crossed!

Friday PM:

200 Butterfly = 2:05.12 (16^th place)

Darn. A little slower, just like at ECACs. I only added .15 and that dropped me two places because the other girls swam so well at night. I was still faster than the 17^th person with that time, however, so I was content with that. And that time was still even faster than I went at Empire 8s so I really couldn’t be mad about it. I gave it my all and the morning swim was the most memorable of my life so I was just happy I could swim the race one more time and do it proud. The 200 fly was an event that truly blossomed for me this year. I was never fully able to dedicate myself to the race prior to this year because it always landed on the same day as the 1650 at Empire 8s before they changed the lineup. I think a lot of why I was so focused and ready for it this year was because I wasn’t brushing it off to the side while concentrating on the mile. I worked so hard on my underwaters in practice all year and I knew this race was going to be mine. I’ll miss swimming the 200 fly.

Our 800 Freestyle Relay wound up with 8^th place as we all watched the final heat swim at night. It was so gut-wrenching to sit there and see everyone touch the pads after every leg and hope that we would still be up there for the running.

Shaking Trevor's hand while up on the podium for our 8th place finish!

I guess we were just destined to complete the women’s team standing of All-American for every individual! 8^th place and All-American status for our relay!!! What a feeling.

BEST AND LAST DAY OF MY SWIMMING CAREER.

Saturday AM/PM:

Done! Just spectating and cheering all day!

Final Team Standings:

1.       Emory

2.       Denison

3.       Williams

4.       Kenyon

5.       College of NJ

6.       Stevens

Hands down, this was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. I had never ever qualified and been invited to this meet before. After getting B-cut my sophomore year I just figured that I would only ever be good enough for a cut but never get invited. I don’t know why I doubt myself all the time.. I just like setting lower expectations for myself. Looking back, I never pictured myself at NCAAs and I should have known that I was more than capable of making it and swimming my ass off. Here’s to a life lesson learned and the best last meet of my swimming career.

Seniors!!!!!!!! (first NCAAs for Dan, Preedy, and me)

TEAM before the banquet! (awkward positioning on our part)

Our stunning STEVENS ALL-AMERICAN WOMENS SWIM TEAM!!!!!!

I LOVE STEVENS SWIMMING. the end.

Empire 8 Championships 2011

EMPIRE 8 CHAMPIONSHIPS – 2/23/2011 – 2/26/2011

Here are my individual event results for the Empire 8 Championships held in Rochester, NY for my final senior year of swimming!!

The Stevens Swimmer Panda that KimKim got me for Secret Psych stuff! : )

Wednesday AM:

500 Freestyle = 5:07.99 (2^nd place)

I went in seeded with a 5:09 from ECACs and dropped a little bit in the morning. I felt good and confident for the finals.

Wednesday PM:

500 Freestyle = 5:04.10 (2^nd place)

Holy crap! I couldn’t believe I broke a 5:05 and went that fast! The NCAA B cut was a 5:05.36 and I totally got it by surprise! I wasn’t even aiming for it.. I just wanted to go fast. But it was a nice little surprise when I looked up at the clock and freaked out! Much thanks to Sian Pearson for boosting me up the whole way out to the swim and swimming on the lane line so I could catch a tiny draft from her. We both swam amazingly!

Thursday AM:

400 Medley Relay (100 fly) = 58.71 (8^th place for the B relay)

Nice confidence booster that my fly speed was up and ready!

Thursday PM:

400 Medley Relay (100 fly) = 58.17 (17^th place for the B relay)

Dropped some time from the morning! I remember putting my head down more on the last lap and really sprinting. It felt great! Our B relay got the highest place we could get for a B relay after the top 16 A teams got scored.

Fridday AM:

200 Butterfly = 2:06.61 (1^st place)

At ECACs I broke down some personal barriers and got my first individual NCAA B cut for the season. So this time around when I went a 2:06.61 and went faster than I did in December, I knew I was ready and able to swim this event very well. I went out in a 31.78 and came back in a 33.55.

Since I got first in the prelims, I got to pick the walkout song for the night! California Girls by Katy Perry since Sian and I were the only Stevens swimmers in the heat!

Friday PM:

200 Butterfly = 2:06.84 (1^st place)

Darn. A little slower, but still first place! I was kind of upset because I knew I could go faster. But I couldn’t be mad with that time and the first spot on the podium for the first time in my Stevens career. I was very glad I finally made it up there!

800 Freestyle Relay (200 free) = 1:54.98 (1^st place)

Hell yeah!!!!! First place on the 800 Free relay!!! Teammates were Marissa Douglas, Hayley Hatfield, and Sian Pearson sharing the podium with me.

My split was a personal best way beyond what I thought my sprinting abilities were capable of! It was also the new Championship record and according to Trevor later that night.. I was pretty much guaranteed a spot to NCAAs with that relay : )

Uh-mazing feeling walking out of the waiting room to the entire team surrounding us and cheering us on!

Saturday AM:

Off-time resting for the Mile finals heat at night!

Saturday PM:

1650 Freestyle = 17:48.93 (4^th place)

I went a couple seconds faster at ECACs, so it was a bit frustrating knowing that all the swimming I did in between then and now was for zero endurance improvement. However, it was the end of the meet and I was thoroughly satisfied with all that I had accomplished at that point. I wasn’t going to let this race bring me down even though it was the most painful experience.

Final Team Standings:

1. Ithaca College (1,505)

2. Stevens Institute of Technology (1,481)

3. Union College (1,170.5)

4. Nazareth College (793)

5. Hartwick College (778)

By the end of the meet, I was so happy with everything I did. I was so successful in all of my events and I was so so so happy. Over the course of the 4 years I swam for Stevens, I consistently improved my times and was faster every year. How could I have asked for anything more than that? That’s all I wanted and everything I could have hoped for. It was also a treat to have my mother there and it was just a blast to do all that with her to witness it. I love making her proud of me!

I want to thank God for my amazing teammates and coaches who have given me everything I need to succeed and all the confidence in the world. I am truly blessed.

Me and the boys after their awesome 4x200 free relay!

My next exciting post will be after NCAAs : )

ECACs 2010

ECAC WINTER CHAMPIONSHIPS - 12/3/2010 to 12/5/2010

I have decided to post a discussion on my ECAC results up here because I am practically done with my collegiate swimming career and it’s my final hurrah before I am officially a triathlete for the rest of my life! Here are my individual event results. Hopefully they’ll be even faster at the end of February!

Friday PM:

1650 Freestyle = 17:46.17 (2^nd place)

Last year at ECACs I went a 18:16.39. In February I went a 17:54.86, and with the full LZR in 2009 my time was a 17:47.76. Needless to say, I was pretty happy with my best mile time ever! Just the fact that I beat my full LZR time by a second was thrilling. Hopefully this will translate to an even more kick-ass time at the end of this Feb. In 2009 that time was good enough for an NCAA B cut, but this year the cut has dropped to a 17:39.80 and that’s my new goal!

Saturday AM:

200 Fly: 2:07.32 (2^nd place)

Last year at ECACs I went a 2:15.45. In February I went a 2:10.28.

I blew myself away with a staggering performance that earned me an NCAA B cut!!! The cut is a 2:08.59 and I got it by over a second! Time to wreck that and maybe get the A cut? Dreamin big!

Saturday PM:

400 IM: 4:40.77 (5^th place)

Last year at ECACs I went a 4:52.89 and that was my best time to date because it was the only time I had swam the 400IM since before I was in high school. The only reason why I did it last year was because I had never broken 5 minutes. This year I wanted to do it again just for the fun of it because I like the event even though I hardly train for it. The NCAA B cut is a 4:36.69, so I was only 4 seconds off of the cut! I don’t know if I’m swimming this at Empire 8’s, but I might want to.

Sunday AM:

500 Freestyle = 5:09.64 (4^th place)

Last year at ECACs I went a 5:18.27. In February I went a 5:12.38, and the year before that with the full LZR I went a 5:12.21. Getting below my high school fluke time of a 5:14 was enough for me those two years ago, so I was pretty satisfied with getting under the 5:10 mark. I was actually disappointed with myself at the end of the race because I felt like I could have gone faster. But that’s just more fuel for February when I’ll hopefully crush that time and maybe snag the B cut of 5:05.36!

el capitans!