Belles regain competitive spirit in MIAA
By NOREEN GILLESPIE
Saint Mary's Editor
Winning may not have been in the cards for the Saint Mary's swimming and diving team on Tuesday night, but rewriting the history books was.
Having notorious luck at failing to notch victories in the MIAA conference the past two years, Tuesday's meet made a statement that the 1999-2000 team is not a squad that wants to be taken lightly, said head coach Gretchen Hildebrandt.
The statement was well taken when the Belles started off the meet with three consecutive wins in the 400 medley relay, the 1,000 freestyle and the 200 freestyle, stepping up in a little more competitive manner than the Albion team was used to.
Rotating leads at four different points during the meet, the Belles fell to Albion by only 14 points, leaving the final score at 128-114.
"I was scared the whole meet," Albion head coach Keith Havens said after the conclusion. "This team is a lot more competitive than I've seen them."
But even 14 points short, the score makes a statement, Hildebrandt said.
"We don't want people to be saying, `This is Saint Mary's, we can take it easy tonight,'" she said. "I want coaches to tally up the meet and say, `This is going to be close.' We want swimmers to come out here and swim their fastest against us. They're not going to take us as a joke? We're not."
Having time to adjust to the MIAA conference may be a factor in the swimmers' improvement this year, said senior captain Michelle Samreta.
"I think we proved ourselves as competitors in the MIAA," Samreta said. "We were more competitive in this meet than I've seen in the past two years. Other teams are going to see this and realize they can't take us for granted."
Saint Mary's won seven of 13 events, with several swimmers eclipsing season bests and recording times closer to end of the season goal marks.
Distance swimmers dominated the meet, with the pair of sophomore Alicia Lesneskie and junior Olivia Smith capturing a 1-2 win early in the meet during the 1,000 freestyle.
Lowering her previous mark by nine seconds, Lesneskie's 1,000 in 11:41.29 and Smith's 11:49.10 second place finish was enough to hold Albion competitors to third, fourth, and fifth place finishes.
Lesneskie captured another win in the 500 freestyle, narrowly escaping Albion's Katie Callan in the last 75 yards of the race, pulling a victory by over a body length in the race's final moments.
"I watched her the first 15 laps, and knew she was getting tired," Lesneskie said. "At 17, I pulled ahead, and just sprinted that last 50."
Other 1-2 teamups for top finishers included junior Colleen Sullivan and freshman Lane Herrington in the 200 freestyle. Sullivan outouched Albion's
Katie Hellerman for a finish in 2:05.91, followed by Herrington in second, edging Hellerman and Emily Thompson in 2:07.14.
Freshman Lauren Smith and Samreta captured another set of top finishes for the Belles in the 200 breastroke, dominating with Smith's first place finish in 2:38.76, followed by Samreta in 2:40.04.
Danielle Clayton also picked up a pair of wins in the sprint freestyles, winning the 50 in 26.53, and the 100 in 57.76. The 400 medley relay team of Sullivan, Samreta, Lauren Smith and Clayton picked up a win in 4:25.46.
Outside of the loss, Saint Mary's swimmers posted considerable improvement over last week's dual with University of Chicago, Hildebrandt said.
"We had swimmers take four seconds off a 100, eight seconds off a 200, 10 seconds off a 1,000," Hildebrandt said. "I expected them to swim fast, but these times are closer to what they would swim tapered."
Resuming a training schedule that is more physically and mentally demanding than in years past, the marked improvement could be due to their desire to make a statement that this team isn't going to be an easy meet, Hildebrandt said.
"They wanted a win," she said. "We're not going to be easy to beat, and [the MIAA] knows that now."
All Sports Stories for Thursday, November 18, 1999
