Women defeat Villanova to remain undefeated for the season
By: SHEILA EGTS
Sports Writer
Standing on her starting block waiting for sound of the starting gun, Marie Labosky glanced to the right at her opponent, Villanova junior and 2000 Olympian Maddy Crippen. Facing off against an Olympian would intimidate most swimmers, but not Labosky.
It wasn't the first time these two swam side by side in the same pool. Labosky has been swimming in the same pool as Crippen since eighth grade and trained with her in high school for two years at Germantown Academy in Pennsylvania. Although they practiced together during Christmas break, Crippen and Labosky last competed in the 400 individual medley at the 2001 Big East Championships, where Labosky finished second to Crippen by five seconds.
"Since eighth grade, I've look up to Maddy and watched her times just thinking about how awesome it would be to even swim close to that fast," said Labosky. "She's just an amazing athlete and I love swimming against her."
As she plunged into the water on Saturday, having fun with her friend and rival was the only thing on Labosky's mind. By the end of the race, she was having even more fun than anticipated as she stared up at her career best, a NCAA qualifying time of 4:14.47 on the scoreboard.
"I really didn't expect to qualify or swim that fast tonight," Labosky said Saturday, after finishing only fractions of a second behind Crippen at 4:14.34. Labosky thought that Crippen wasn't really racing her hardest since Crippen didn't pull ahead on the final laps of breaststroke, her strongest stroke.
"Maddy was tired because she's been training so hard, but it was a fun race," she said. "I could feel her in the lane beside me, the momentum was there."
But Crippen admitted she was giving it her all against Labosky.
"I didn't think we would go that fast, but I was definitely racing," said Crippen, whose finishing time shattered the old pool record of 4:19.07 in the 400 IM. "It's always nice to have your name on a record board somewhere."
The mental game of swimming against Crippen makes the race engaging, according to Labosky, who looks forward to meeting her again in late-February at the Big East Championships.
"I know swimming this race against her helped me qualify for the NCAAs," said Labosky. "I'm so excited to see her again at Big East. I know we'll push each other even faster."
Key performances from sophomore Lisa D'Olier, senior Kelly Hecking and senior Carrie Nixon led the women to a strong win against Villanova, maintaining their season-long winning streak and bumping their record up to 8-0. D'Olier swam season-best times and won the 100 and 200 butterfly, Hecking placed first in the 100 and 200 backstroke, and Nixon claimed wins in the 50 and 100 freestyle.
The women swim next on Thursday against 16th-ranked Northwestern in Rolfs Aquatic Center at 5 p.m.
All Sports Stories for Monday, January 28, 2002
