From Feb. 10-13, the Men’s and Women’s Swim teams competed in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) championships in Greensboro, North Carolina. The men finished seventh out of eight schools with a total of 123 points, while breaking nine school records. The women finished sixth out of 11, totaling at 178 points, with 10 broken school records.
Many of the Marlins swimmers got to compete in finals after breaking school records in preliminaries and many of the swimmers who swam in finals went faster at night. “A lot of people had a best time,” first-year team member Suzanna Fernandez said.
Head Coach Kristian Ramksvist received a text from another coach after the meet ended saying they loved how much of a team the Marlins were, and how they were always cheering together. “Other coaches saw our team dynamic,” junior and team captain Sarah Verbeck said.
Leading the men’s team was sophomore Cael Long, who finished fourth in the men’s 200 Individual Medley preliminary rounds, earning a spot in the finals and breaking a school record. In the finals, Long placed fifth and earned Third Team All-Conference. Long participated in the men’s 4×200 freestyle relay along with first-year Declan Keener, junior Andrew McMullen and sophomore Logan Schohn. Together they broke a school record with a time of 7:34.41 seconds.
The men’s 4×50 freestyle relay which was swam by Long, Keener, first-year Elias Paulino and McMullen claimed eighth place. Long’s split time broke another school record with a time of 21.73. Long also secured more school records in the men’s 100 butterfly preliminaries with a time of 50.93 and the men’s 100 breaststroke with a time of 59.46. Long finished sixth in the 100 fly final and 11th in the 100 breast final.
Long, Keener, McMullen and Schohn broke a record in the men’s 4×100 freestyle relay. In the first leg of the relay, Long broke another school record in 100 freestyle with a time of 47.94.
For the women’s team, junior Lauren Hendricks finished sixth in the women’s 100 freestyle preliminaries and set a school record with a time of 53.72. In the finals, she broke her own record with a time of 53.25 and claimed fourth. She earned Second Team All-Conference in the women’s 100 freestyle. The All-Conference award in swimming is given to those who make top eight in individual events. First Team All-Conference is given to first, second and third place swimmers. Second Team All-Conference is given to fourth and fifth place swimmers, and Third Team All-Conference is given to sixth, seventh and eighth place swimmers.
First-year Suzanna Fernandez, first-year Sarah Czapp, first-year Erin Beaudry and junior Lauren Hendricks stand on podium after the 4×200 freestyle relay at ODACS.
Photo: Colette Kearney| Marlin Chronicle
In the women’s 4×200 freestyle relay, Hendricks, first-year Sarah Czapp, first-year Erin Beaudry and Fernandez came in sixth place. Hendricks’ recorded split time in the women’s 200 freestyle was the fastest time in school history, with a time of 1:58.31.
The women’s 4×50 freestyle relay team composed of Hendricks, Czapp, Fernandez and junior and team captain Audrey Roberts came in sixth and broke a school record with a time of 1:41.23.
Czapp, Beaudry, Hendricks and Roberts came in sixth in the women’s 4×100 freestyle relay. They broke a school record with a time of 3:45.11.
Hendricks finished eighth in the 200 freestyle preliminaries, breaking a school record and earning a spot in the finals with a time of 1:58.11. Her time of 1:58.17 earned eighth place in the finals and was only .06 seconds away from her own school record.
Fernandez placed ninth in the women’s 100 backstroke prelims and broke a school record with a time of 1:02.02. She finished 10th in the finals with a time of 1:02.41. In the women’s 200 backstroke, Fernandez finished 10th in the preliminaries and broke another school record with a time of 2:14.74. She broke her own record in the finals of this event, also coming in 10th with a time of 2:14.61.
Hendricks took 12th place in the women’s 50 freestyle preliminaries, setting a new school record at 24.61. She came in 10th in the finals with a time of 24.70.
Paulino credits part of this success with great teamwork and picking teammates up while simultaneously pushing them to do better. “A lesson I learned from my teammates is that cheering them on goes a long way,” Paulino said.
“If your teammate cheers you up and gives you a pep talk, it honestly goes a long way,” Paulino said. The men’s team showed a great deal of comradery in making sure their teammates felt like their part matters as much as everyone else.
Overall, the Marlins fought hard in a tough conference. Fernandez provided insight on how much this meet meant to them and what it did for the team. “It was fun to watch my teammates race each other,” Fernandez said.
They displayed a great deal of teamwork and made sure they cheered everyone on no matter what. Both teams gained valuable experience for their younger swimmers and fond memories for the upperclassmen.
By: Brian Madden
bvmadden@vwu.edu
