Relaxed atmosphere benefits Lady Jays

On Jan. 31, the fourth-ranked Hopkins women’s swimming traveled to Fredericksburg, Va. for a dual meet with Mary Washington. It was the team’s final dual meet, finishing at 6-2 on the season.

The Lady Jays won handily by a score of 162-41. They began the meet by dominating in the 200-meter Medley relay with a team of juniors Melinda Yau and Maggie Storm and freshmen Sarah Westley and Kailyn Koh earning first place in the event with a time of 1:49.83. A team comprised of freshman Helena Arose, sophomore Sean McGrath, junior Ana Bogdanovski and senior Taylor Kitayama took second place in the event giving Hopkins the 1-2 finish.

The Lady Jays also finished first and third in the 3X300 Free relay with freshmen Kristen Kaiser and Emily Lubin and sophomore Ellen Marcus riding a 9:23.81 time to victory in the event. Freshman Lindsay Kriz, junior Selena-Guerrero-Martin and senior Katie Rowland finished in third with a time of 9:37.25.

In the 100-meter back, Hopkins secured another 1-2 finish with Yau finishing with a time of 59.15 and junior Kylie Holden finishing at 1:03.27. Hopkins did the same in the 150-meter Breast, with Storm winning the event with a time of 1:09.12, and Koh turning in a time of 1:13.35, good for third.

Hopkins then swept the next six events beginning with the 150-meter Fly.

Freshmen Shirley Chan and Abby Brown finished 1-2 with times of 1:33.32 and 1:33.32 respectively, while fellow freshman Keri Gawlik finished third with a time of 1:37.15. In the 200-meter Free Relay, sophomore Hannah Benn, junior Jill Liwacz and seniors Kylie Ternes and Sarah Rinsma won the event with a time of 1:39.14, while Marcus, Bogdanovski, McGrath and sophomore Megan Auzenbergs finished second clocking in at 1:40.61.

To round out the sweep, Kitayama, Kriz, Lubin and Chan finished third with a time of 1:42.36. Kitayama won the 100-meter Free with a 52.72, while Koh edged out Westley by seven-hundredths of a second with a time of 54.90.

McGrath dominated the 150-meter back with a time of 1:35.91, and Benn and Gawlik finished second and third with 1:39.19 and 1:41.04 times respectively. Ternes won the 100-meter fly with a time of 58:19, and Bogdanovski, Fox and Holden swept the 100-meter IM with times of 1:01.39, 1:01.80 and 1:02.24 respectively.

The Lady Jays also triumphed in mixed events with the men’s team sweeping the Mixed 600-meter Medley and finishing 1-2 in the Mixed 400-meter Medley.

Kitayama attributed the dominating win to not only hard work throughout practice but also the team bonding that took place especially during Intersession.

She said that it was “the most fun we’ve ever had at a meet.”

Storm agreed. “Hopkins swimmers are successful because the only place they’d rather be than in pool, racing, is on deck, cheering (occasionally embarrassingly so) for their teammates,” Storm said.

Bogdanovski also attributed some of the fun to nontraditional distances and relays in the meet. She said that the season’s success was a result of “training hard since the team’s big meet in the fall, working on strength, speed, endurance, and technique.” Storm said that the team’s successful season stemmed largely from leadership from seniors. “Their successes have challenged us to swim faster than many of us ever thought possible,” Storm said.

The Lady Jays have a busy schedule ahead, as they travel to Blacksburg, Va. to participate in the Virginia Tech Invitational on Feb. 8 followed by the four-day Bluegrass Mountain Conference Championship in Charlotte, NC just three days later.

Bogdanovski  commented on what the team needs to do to prepare for the grueling stretch. “Our coaches have a pretty individualized program for us all, resting us based on our needs and the timing of our biggest meet,” Bogdanovski said. “But we need to focus outside the pool as well and make sure we get plenty of sleep, don't waste any extra energy on thing besides practice and school and eat healthy. Everything adds up.”

Storm commented on a team meeting last week. “Coach [George] Kennedy told us he wanted us to eliminate two words from our vocabulary: always and never,” Storm said. “These are limiting words that have no place in our program. Hopkins swimming will continue to improve as long as we believe there is no boundary to what we can accomplish.” The team is hoping to be able to translate this confidence into success to close out an already special season.