The expectations were high for a team that has not lost a single event this season, and UR women’s swimming and diving certainly lived up to the hype against SUNY Brockport. The team did not lose a single event except in exhibition.
The team’s amazing performance is accentuated by outside circumstances.
“Many of the athletes swam events that they do not normally swim,” Head Coach Danielle Herring said. “I was very impressed with how they did under those conditions.”
In addition to most of the swimmers being out of their element, the team completed a two-hour practice before the meet.
Herring continued, “We did not let up all week. We hit the weight room hard and then hit the pool harder. The team pushed hard all week, and even though the athletes swam tired, they swam very well.”
A number of swimmers swam season bests against Brockport. Sophomore Karen Gromer swam a lifetime best of 2:17.45 in the 200-yard individual medley.
Gromer and freshmen Denise Moseman and Kelley Fischer finished first through third, respectively, in the 200-yard individual medley.
Freshman Sara Tomaski swam a lifetime best in the 500 freestyle.
“My goal for this meet was to go under six minutes,” Tomaski said. “I was really excited.”
Coach Herring was very pleased with the team’s overall performance.
“Every swim was executed with the kind of intensity that we would like to see throughout the year,” Herring said. “We are going to continually work to get faster. We have made vast improvements both off the walls and the blocks. I am very excited about this team.”
Not to be outdone, the women’s diving team performed extremely well. Sophomore Kara Nash placed first on the one-meter board with an excellent score of 183.15. Junior Patricia McHale, sophomore Shannon Kahabka and juniors Allison Easton and Crystal Hoffman also performed extremely well.
“A strong diving team is essential for what we need to do this year,” Herring said. “We need all the points we can get.”
“Overall, the team supported each other very well,” Kelly Fischer said. “Even on the really long events, we had a lot of people behind the lanes cheering each other on. It was an awesome experience.”
The team is very excited for their next meet against SUNY Geneseo, which should prove to be one of their most challenging meets of the season.
Nissan can be reached at dnissan@campustimes.org.
