New Look Record Board

You may recall that our swimmers really went out with a bang at championships in February, breaking nine new school records in seven different events, among other things. Well, the new record strips arrived, and last Thursday we had several of our record breakers assemble to watch as the old records came down and their new marks went up on the big board.

The new records that went up included Sarah Almond's 50 free (24.44), Tracilyn Babington's 100 and 200 breaststrokes (1:06.05 and 2:24.21), all three freestyle relays (1:39.11, 3:36.63 and 7:58.04), and the 400 medley relay (4:02.01).

Here are some pics of the record holders, along with their records:

2011 is now the most common year you'll find on our record board!

ALL-ODAC Team Announced

The all-conference team has been announced, and we put 10 swimmers on the first and second teams this season. Not too bad!

All-ODAC first team honorees were Sarah Almond, Tracilyn Babington, Lizzy Buckley and Rebecca Stevenson.

All-ODAC second team members were Corinne Campbell, Brianna Lovell, Virginia Mauch, Kellianne Mullin, Elizabeth Plowman and Ellie Shea.

That means 2/3 of our team earned post-season honors within the conference! In addition, Sarah Almond was Swimmer of the Year and Tracilyn Babington was Rookie of the Year.

Out of this group, Corinne Campbell is the lone senior, meaning we'll be returning a pretty strong core for next season. It's never too early to start thinking about 2012, right?

Champions/Records Recap

Here's a list of all of our individual conference event champions from the weekend:

100 Breast - Tracilyn Babington (1:06.60...1:06.05 in prelims)

200 Breast - Tracilyn Babington (2:24.21)

50 Free - Sarah Almond (24.59...24.44 in prelims)

100 Free - Sarah Almond (53.08)
200 Free - Sarah Almond (1:57.24)

500 Free - Rebecca Stevenson (5:13.75)

In relay action, we won all three freestyle relays:

200 Free Relay - Lizzy Buckley, Tracilyn Babington, Elizabeth Plowman, Sarah Almond (1:39.11)
400 Free Relay - Lizzy Buckley, Tracilyn Babington, Ellie Shea, Sarah Almond (3:36.63)
800 Free Relay - Lizzy Buckley, Rebecca Stevenson, Elizabeth Plowman, Sarah Almond (7:58.04)

Both of Tracilyn's breaststroke swims were good for NCAA B cuts.

Seven school records were set: Tracilyn in the 100 and 200 breaststroke, Sarah in the 50 free, and the 200, 400, and 800 free relays. The 2nd place 400 medley relay team of Elizabeth, Tracilyn, Lizzy and Sarah also set a new school record in 4:02.01.

Finally, new conference records were set by Tracilyn in the 100 breaststroke and by the 400 free relay team.

Finals Recap #3

A little late in coming, but we got home very early this morning, so cut me some slack! Here's a little recap from finals on Sunday. This team could seemingly do no wrong this weekend, and the great times continued through the final session:

In the 1650 free, Rebecca Stevenson nearly broke her own school record in the event, touching in second place with a time of 18:15.54. Tracy Spurrier finished 7th with a lifetime best of 19:47.86.

In the 200 back, Elizabeth Plowman led the way with a season best time of 2:16.11, good for 4th place. Tracy was right back in the water, and as we've come to expect, got her best time of the season immediately after swimming the mile to finish 6th. Anna Obermiller was in consolations and finished 12th.

The 100 free was an exciting race. Sarah Almond went after it and quickly swam away from everyone. She finished first in a best time of 53.08, which was awesome. Behind her, Lizzy Buckley had a strong second 50 to pull away for second in 54.49, and Ellie Shea came from behind to get third in 55.16! 1-2-3 for R-MC. Kaitlyn Milstead and Katie Preddy swam in consolations and finished 12th and 13th respectively, after setting huge best times in the morning.

Tracilyn Babington led the way in the 200 breast, winning the race and getting her second B cut of the meet with a time of 2:24.21. Kellianne Mullin was fourth in 2:31.29, and Virginia Mauch was fifth in 2:35.53 (after a 2:35.25 for a lifetime best by SEVEN SECONDS in prelims). Katherine Dodd picked up another lifetime best for 10th place with a 2:48.33, while Anna improved on her morning time to finish 13th in 2:53.44.

Corinne Campbell swam her last race in the 200 fly last night. Our school record holder and former conference champ improved upon her morning swim by almost four seconds to finish fourth in 2:20.51. Brianna Lovell dropped time from the morning for seventh place in 2:23.87.

But we really saved the best for last in this meet. The 400 free relay. Lizzy Buckley, Tracilyn Babington, Ellie Shea and Sarah Almond. Lizzy started it off with a 55.00. Tracilyn was next with a 55.56. Ellie Shea was simply amazing on the 3rd leg, going 53.87 to get Sarah within striking distance of the lead. Sarah took the lead right after the 50 and then swam away with it for a 52.20 split. The final time was 3:36.63, good for a school, meet, and conference record performance! Great way to finish the championships!

Overall, we won nine events over the weekend, including all three freestyle relays. Seven school records were set, including the 400 free relay which is also a conference record. Tracilyn earned Rookie of the Year honors, while Sarah was deservedly named the Swimmer of the Year for the ODAC.

Finals Recap #2

The good times keep rolling for Randolph-Macon here in Christiansburg. This team is really having an awesome meet.

Today's finals were kicked off with the 200 medley relay, where Elizabeth Plowman, Tracilyn Babington, Virginia Mauch, and Ellie Shea took second place in 1:52.17, the second fastest time in school history. 29.19 for Plowman, 29.69 for Tracilyn, 27.85 for VA, and 25.44 for Ellie.

The 400 IM was next, and Brianna Lovell led the way for us. Bri finished in 4th place in a new best time of 4:55.82. Katherine Dodd had a huge swim to take 6th in 5:15.18...a new best time by eight seconds!

In the 100 fly, we had Virginia and Corinne Campbell tie for 7th in 1:04.40. It was another solid swim for Virginia, and marked a huge season best for Corinne.

The 200 free was an impressive one to witness for our team. Sarah Almond led from start to finish and won the race in 1:57.24, a best time by two seconds. Rebecca Stevenson was third with a new best time of 1:58.54. Lizzy Buckley was 4th in 1:59.70. Ellie Shea was 6th in 2:00.98 (after going 2:00.77 in the morning, which was a best time by FIVE SECONDS! Swim of the Day?). We also had Katie Preddy go 2:12.84 for 13th place and Kaitlyn Milstead get 14th in 2:16.66.

Tracilyn was at it again in the 100 breast, winning in 1:06.60. In the morning, she went 1:06.05 for a new school record, meet record, ODAC record, and B cut. Kellianne Mullin was very sharp in third place with a new best time of 1:10.45.

The final individual event was the 100 back, and we had Elizabeth Plowman crush her season best and get also set a new personal best in 1:01.06 to finish third. Anna Obermiller was 10th overall in 1:09.93.

The 800 free relay was a great way to finish the session. Buckley, Stevenson, Plowman, and Almond led the whole race and finished first by nearly nine seconds in 7:58.04. The time was good enough to beat our previous school record by about six and a half seconds! Lizzy was a 2:01.04, Rebecca was 1:58.64, Elizabeth was 2:00.80, and Sarah brought it home in 1:57.55.

Can't wait for some more great races tomorrow....

Finals Recap #1

Day one is in the books for our R-MC swimmers. Tonight was another great session for the gang. We won our first relay at conference championships in four years, with a 1:39.11 to take the 200 free in a school record setting performance. Sarah Almond anchored in 23.87 to get that done.

From there, Becca Stevenson successfully defended her 500 free title, winning in 5:13.75 and getting a little closer to our school record in that event. Elizabeth Plowman was 6th, and birthday girl Tracy Spurrier broke 5:40 for the first time with a....5:37.07!

In the 200 IM, we had Kellianne Mullin go another solid swim for 4th place, Virginia Mauch get 6th in a huge best time of 2:18.99, and Brianna Lovell was 8th in an almost identical time to her best this morning. In consolations, Katherine Dodd was 13th with a big time drop in 2:28.33.

Our third win of the night was in the 50 free, where Sarah Almond backed up her school record 24.44 from the  morning with a 24.59 tonight to take the win. It was a 1-2 finish as Tracilyn Babington was 25.06 for second best. Lizzy Buckley was 5th in 25.17, and Ellie Shea can now say her best time is "25 point" after going 25.99. Also, here's a shout out to Kaitlyn Milstead for going a best time of 27.57 in prelims, then 27.10 in her swim off (there was no doubt about who was going to win that duel), followed by 27.22 at night.

The 400 medley was another good race. Hats off to the W&L team for stepping up and getting the win. Our team was a close second in 4:02.01. The previous school record was 4:02.02. COUNT IT! School record #3 for the day.  Here are a couple splits to throw out: Tracilyn's breaststroke split was 1:04.53! Sarah's freestyle split was 52.29!

And We're On

Great start to the meet this morning. Everyone dropped time individually, with career bests all over the place. Special congratulations to Sarah Almond for setting the first school record of the weekend in the 50 free with a 24.44!!

Results are live on the Christiansburg site: http://swimmeet.christiansburg.org/

Tracilyn Nabs National Honors

For her exploits against Catholic over the weekend, our very own Tracilyn Babington has been named the National Collegiate Swimmer of the Week. For those who are unaware, Tracilyn took down the school record in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:07.50 on Saturday. The win in that event was one of four wins on the day for Tracilyn (100 breast, 200 breast, 400 medley relay, 200 free relay).

Pretty cool. Check it out!

http://www.collegeswimming.com/news/2011/feb/02/bispo-and-dwyer-take-national-honors/

The Face of Randolph-Macon

Senior Corinne Campbell is currently being featured in the "R-MC Student Experience" section of Randolph-Macon's homepage. Check it out to learn more about what Corinne has been up to the last three and a half years!

http://www.rmc.edu/News/11-01-26-Corinne-Campbell.aspx

Catholic Meet

A shorthanded R-MC swimming team stepped up yesterday to win some close races and beat Catholic, 140 to 122. Among the many highlights, Tracilyn Babington set a new school record in the 100 breaststroke! Her time of 1:07.50 took down Katie Duff's former record of 1:08.29, set back in 2004.

With the final dual meet now behind us, our sights are firmly set on ODACs (well, they already were), which begin just 12 days from now. Can't wait to see what our swimmers can do when fully rested.