Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Our First SOTW

FYI, SOTW = Swimmer of the Week for the ODAC. How many acronyms can I cram into this post?

Congratulations to our very own R-MC freshman Cat Ware (VA Beach / ODAC), who picked up the first conference swimmer of the week award for the 2009-10 season based on her performances against NCAA D1 Radford last weekend. Cat won all 4 events (100 fly, 200 fly, 400 MR, 400 FR...see previous post for more details)against RU, in what was her first collegiate dual meet.




In case you were keeping track, 11 is the magic number of acronyms. In order, they are: SOTW, FYI, ODAC (Old Dominion Athletic Conference), R-MC, VA, ODAC (Old Dominion Aquatic Club), NCAA, D1, MR (Medley Relay), FR (Freestyle Relay), RU. If I knew how to, I would have typed the answers upside down as on a cereal box.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Radford Meet Recap

Last Friday night we took a smaller group of Macon swimmers out to Radford to go up against their D1 program in our first meet of the year. The flu knocked several of our women out of action for the week, and so we had just 13 swimmers in the lineup for the meet. The key to winning any dual meet is placing first in more individual events than the other team (it's not rocket science), as scoring is 9-4-3-2-1 for individual events. Obviously, when you have fewer swimmers to snatch up those 2nd-5th spots, it is especially crucial.

So the team knew what they had to do, and they went out and did it. R-MC won 137-121 by taking both relays and 7 out of 12 individual events. Freshman Cat Ware led the way for us with 4 wins in 4 events. Individually, Cat took both butterflies (1:02.44 and 2:20.53). She was also a part of the winning 400 medley and 400 freestyle relays. Fellow freshman Rebecca Stevenson did her part by going 3 for 3 on the night, taking wins in the tough 1000/500 combo. Rebecca was also on the 400 freestyle relay team. Joining Rebecca and Cat on the 400 freestyle relay were Lizzy Buckley and Sarah Almond. The 400 medley relay consisted of Caitlin Proctor, Kellianne Mullin, Cat, and Sarah. The other 3 individual winners for R-MC were Sarah in the 50 free, Lizzy in the 200 free, and Kellianne in the 200 breast.

In addition to the W, the team also gained valuable racing experience in the same pool where they'll be finishing the season in February, as Radford will once again host the ODAC Championships for 2010. It was a good meet for the team and a good way to start off the competitive phase of the season.