Gryphons' swim team: strength in numbers

by Allison Grande

Tuesday February 7, 2006

There is not a lot of math to be found at Sarah Lawrence, but one place on campus where students can have a daily math lesson may surprise you.

"The swim team does math," head coach Jennifer Walker explained. "We’re a very numbers-based sport. Everything we do is yardage. What they do during the workout is count strokes, or working with the time or with the clock. All the lanes are doing the same set, but, depending on their speeds, they’re doing the sets on different times. Therefore, the clock is a constant challenge."

This year’s swim team has managed to somehow emerge from this swamp of mathematics to put together one of their most impressive seasons in recent memory.

"This is, across the board, the strongest team I’ve had," Walker said. "We have a much stronger core than we’ve ever had in the past. We’re not just taking first place in events, but we’re taking first and second or first and third instead of first and fourth. It’s that middle core that makes up an abundance of our strength."
As their season draws to a close, the team has ridden this strong core to an undefeated record.

"We’ve taken a lot of people by surprise this year," First-Year Ellen Lueck said. "We’re better this year than we have been in a long time."

Part of the team’s success can again be attributed to math. They gain their strength through their numbers. This year’s team consists of 19 swimmers, almost twice the size of the biggest team that Walker has coached at Sarah Lawrence.

"We have a nice core group of fast swimmers who have a background in competitive swimming, but depth also helps," Walker said. "The numbers benefit us because a swim meet has 14 events, and each of these events has multiple swimmers, so everyone gets a chance to swim."

These swimmers encompass a wide range of ability levels, including at least six swimmers who can do all four competitive strokes, leaving Walker with more options then ever before.
Only seven of the 19 swimmers have previously competed on an SLC swim team. Senior captain Sara Kankowski and Senior Tasmia Ahmed rejoined the team this year after being abroad, while Junior Georgia Schoonmaker and Sophomores Julia Gruberg, Hannah Lansburgh, Cavin Moore and Tena Parker returned from last year’s team. New to the team are Senior Jennifer Bustance, Sophomores Jenna Egerdal, Cori Johnson, and Emily Kollars, and First-years Alex Brostoff, Vivian Charlesworth, Kirstan Clifford, Ellen Lueck, Hannah Palmer, Margaret Robinson, Elizabeth Rowe and Deanna Schanz.
Even with such a large team, the swimmers all work well together and support one another.

"Everyone’s always cheering a lot," Kollars said. "Even though it can get really loud on the deck, we still all cheer each other on all the time."

"Everyone gets along, and everyone is there to have a good time," Lueck agreed.

This supportive and relaxing environment also provides the swimmers with an atmosphere where they are free to explore new things.

"There’s not a lot of pressure, it’s just really encouraging," second-year swimmer Gruberg said. "I feel really comfortable and really safe pushing myself to places that I never thought I could get to [such as swimming a new event for the first time]. I just want to give my all for the team."

While Walker and her assistant coach Casey Quinn want to push their swimmers to achieve their potential, they realize that there is another, more important goal for SLC athletes.

"My number one priority is for them to have fun," Walker said. "On this team, at this school, I feel like if they’re not enjoying themselves, then they shouldn’t be doing this. It’s not about winning, but it does feel good to win, and they deserve the victories for the amount of work they put into the season."

While all the members of the team are enjoying both themselves and winning a lot, they are also achieving another goal that wasn’t on the top of their priority lists.

In the first four meets, the 200-meter medley relay team consisting of Kollars, Palmer, Brostoff and Ahmed broke and then re-broke the school record in the event.
Palmer broke the school’s 50-meter backstroke record, and Kollars broke the school record in the 100-meter breaststroke and was named Conference Swimmer of the Week.

With the extremely short season already winding down the team has one goal left: capturing the Conference Championship on Dec. 2.

"I think we have a really good chance of pulling things together and maybe taking a title again," Walker said.
If power really does lie in numbers, then how can they lose?