Despite a slow start at the Division III Women's Swimming Championships, which were held from March 11-13 in St. Louis, the Johns Hopkins women's swimming team peaked toward the end of the meet, finishing in sixth place. The strong showing is the third-best finish in the school history.
"We were hoping to place in the top four, and we wound up sixth, but overall, it was a good meet," said junior co-captain Diana Smirnova.
The team was disappointed with its early struggles, but proud that it was able to turn things around for a successful finish. And things did start out bleak for the Blue Jays. In fact, at the end of the first day of the three-day competition, Hopkins sat in 12th place with just 29 points.
Sophomores Katie Herbst and Stephanie Leaman both notched points for the team in the 500-yard freestyle. Herbst finished 14th, with a time of 5:05.84, yielding three points for Hopkins, and Leaman added a point by finishing 16th (5:10.47). Smirnova then picked up seven points with a 10th place finish in the 200-yard individual medley(2:09.05).
Hopkins then got a huge boost when its relay team, which did not perform well in the preliminary round, came through in the finals. A team comprised of sophomores Sida Liu, Jessica Chang, Kalei Walker and Smirnova won the consolation final for the 400-yard medley relay in 3:56.51, good for a ninth-place finish and 18 points.
But it was on the second day of the competition when the team's momentum picked up significantly. Another successful relay added 12 points the overall score.
"Our relays did really well, especially at night," said Smirnova.
The Blue Jays placed 11th in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:49.79. The relay team consisted of Liu, Chang, Smirnova and sophomore Abiona Redwood. Smirnova followed up with a 15th place finish in the 100-yard butterfly (58.81). Walker then took 13th in the 200-yard freestyle, finishing in 1:54.79.
Hopkins also had a fantastic showing in the 100-yard breaststroke race thanks to a sixth-place finish by Chang (1:06.45) and a victory by freshman Allie Foster in the consolation final. Foster, who finished in 1:05.62, took ninth place in the event.
The 800-yardfreestyle team took it from there, earning eighth place in the event with a time of 7:44.43. The strong showing was enough to propel the Jays into seventh place overall.
The final day started strong, with a solid eighth-place finish by Leaman in the 1650-yard freestyle in 17:20.87. Foster kept things going with a third-place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke. She finished in 2:20.38, while her sophomore teammate Kristin Stepaniak added to Hopkins' score by taking tenth place with a time of 2:24.23.
The final event -- the 400-yard freestyle relay -- did not look promising, as the team of Smirnova, Walker, Foster and Redwood failed to qualify for the final round. However, the team finished first in the consolation final with a time of 3:32.56 for a ninth-place overall finish.
With an excellent third day, Hopkins cruised into sixth place with 142.5 points overall. This strong finish was topped only twice in the Hopkins history; the team finished fifth in Division III in 2001 and then again in 2002.
"The coaches were happy with how the meet went and each swimmer came out with at least one good race," said Smirnova.
Not only was this meet rewarding from an athletic standpoint, but it was also important in terms of team chemistry. Foster, who had an impressive showing in her first national meet, went into the meet "blind" and not knowing what to expect.
"I had no idea what it was going to be like," she said. "I didn't know how many people would be there, and I didn't realize how team-oriented it would be."
"We were up there cheering 100 percent for every one of the races," said Foster. "No one's race went unwatched." The team's tight bond only grew stronger as its members picked one another up after the rocky start so that they could come together and stage a late rally that landed them sixth in the nation.
With all of the national qualifiers returning next season, the Lady Jays' prospects for 2005 couldn't look better. In addition to the returning national qualifiers, Hopkins has recruited a strong class of incoming freshmen who should be major contributors next season.
"I'm definitely optimistic for next year in terms of what we can accomplish at nationals and throughout the season," said Foster.
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