Swimming and Diving Team Claims NEWMAC Sportsmanship Award For Third Time

Hi All,

It was great to have the team win the NEWMAC Sportsmanship Award for the 3rd time in it's 5 year history. Here is the MHC article on all of the awards from NEWMAC.

Best,
DA

Cool Motivational Video

Hi All,

Here is a cool motivational video for you!

Best,
DA

Mount Holyoke Named a 2011 Best Value College

Here is the LINK to the story on the athletics page.

New College Records

We set 6 new records this season.

First Year Lauren Williams was a part of 5 of the records.

She lowered the 200 Backstroke record 3 times with a final record of 2:12.39.

Lauren was also part of 2 relays that set new records:

The 200 Free Relay lowered the record to 1:40.71
1) Kroll, Michelle A SR 2) Magee, Madeline SO
3) Williams, Lauren L FR 4) Bowers, Lydia D JR
25.89 50.77 (24.88) 1:15.80 (25.03) 1:40.71 (24.91)

The 200 Medley Relay lowered the record to 1:55.72
1) Ng, Sin Seanne FR 2) Magee, Madeline SO
3) Williams, Lauren L FR 4) Bowers, Lydia D JR
29.89 1:02.40 (32.51) 1:30.81 (28.41) 1:55.72 (24.91)

Sophomore Madeline Magee also set a college record in the 50 breaststroke with a time of 32.48. This was on the first half of a 100 breaststroke leg.

John Wooden's Passing

What a sad day when I heard that John Wooden had passed away on June 4, 2010.

An amazing man with a great influence on countless coaches and people. I am reading the book "You Haven't Taught Until They Have Learned", which is about Wooden's teaching philosophy.

Here is a video of a presentation he did in 2001. Hard to imagine he was 90 at the time.

Best,
DA

Team GPA Ranked as Outstanding

Once again, the team's GPA was above a 3.4 - 3.41 for the spring '2010. This is 7 out of the last 8 semesters it has been above a 3.4! A 3.4 is ranked by the College Swimming Coaches Association of America as "Outstanding".

The overall rankings will be available shortly from the CSCAA.

Best,
DA

13 Team Records

The team set a total of 13 team records in the second half of the season! This included a number of records that were reset. Here are all of the records and splits...

200 Free Relay

Set in Trials of NEWMAC - 1:42.17  

Burton, Joan FR, Bowers, Lydia SO, Cunningham, Nora FR, Schonborn, Lindsay SR          

       25.48    25.12    26.16    25.41                       

Reset In Finals - 1:41.09     

Rooney, Sarah SO,Bowers, Lydia SO, Burton, Joan FR, Schonborn, Lindsay SR          

       25.99    25.21    25.06    24.83                       

200 IM

Set in Trials - 2:16.28  

Schonborn, Lindsay        SR Mount Holyoke    

      30.11   34.96   39.54   31.67                                

Reset in Finals - 2:14.79  

Schonborn, Lindsay        SR Mount Holyoke   

      29.13   34.55   39.92   31.19                                

  

100 Fly         

Set at NEWMAC

Burton, Joan - 59.11  

      27.35   31.76                   

400 Medley Relay

Set in Trials at NEWMAC - 4:09.51  

Cunningham, Nora FR, Schonborn, Lindsay SR, Burton, Joan FR, Bowers, Lydia SO               

  31.35  1:04.15    32.81  1:10.78    27.39    59.13    26.49    55.45 

Reset in Finals at NEWMAC - 4:07.12    

Cunningham, Nora FR, Schonborn, Lindsay SR, Burton, Joan FR, Bowers, Lydia SO               

       30.94  1:03.86    32.12  1:09.48    26.92    58.80    25.81    54.98

50 and 100 Breaststroke

Both Set in Trials at NEWMAC

100 Breaststroke - Schonborn, Lindsay  1:09.02  

      32.65   36.37                                                

50 Breaststroke – 32.65

800 Free Relay

Set in Finals at NEWMAC 8:06.36    

Rooney, Sarah SO, Bowers, Lydia SO, Burton, Joan FR, Schonborn, Lindsay SR          

       29.87  1:01.77  1:34.48  2:07.30    28.18    59.93  1:32.21  2:03.73

       27.14    56.44  1:26.54  1:56.78    26.93    56.63  1:27.39  1:58.55

400 Free Relay

Set at Seven Sisters - 3:45.75        

Schonborn, Lindsay SR, Bowers, Lydia SO, Cunningham, Nora FR, Burton, Joan FR                

    27.08 56.19 (56.19)   1:22.87 (26.68)     1:52.25 (56.06)

    2:18.97 (26.72)  2:49.19 (56.94)     3:15.76 (26.57)     3:45.75 (56.56)

Reset in Trials at NEWMAC - 3:43.92  

Burton, Joan FR, Bowers, Lydia SO, Cunningham, Nora FR, Schonborn, Lindsay SR          

       26.90    55.92    25.84    55.39    27.35    57.43    26.42    55.18

Reset in Finals at NEWMAC - 3:41.32    

Schonborn, Lindsay SR, Cunningham, Nora FR, Bowers, Lydia SO, Burton, Joan FR                

       26.34    55.10    26.81    56.72    26.10    55.37    25.73    54.13

Kendall Facilities Updates

Check out the You Tube video of all of the recent updates to the Sports complex.

DA

Schonborn Earns "Lyon of the Week" Accolades

Swimming and diving team member Lindsay Schonborn has been named “Lyon of the Week” for the week of February 15-21. The senior figured in on seven school records at the 2010 NEWMAC Championships over the weekend. As a team, Mount Holyoke shattered eight program records en route to an eighth place finish at the competition.

In addition to taking seventh place in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:14.79 on Friday, Schonborn also contributed to record setting performances in both of the day’s relay races. After teaming with sophomore Sarah Rooney, first year Joan Burton and sophomore Lydia Bowers to post a sixth place result in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:41.09, she went on to secure fifth place in the 400-yard medley relay along with Burton, Bowers and first year Nora Cunningham. The quartet finished the race in 4:07.12.

Schonborn added three more school records to her resume on Saturday. Her time of 1:09.02 in the preliminary round of the 100-yard breaststroke was good for tops in program history, and she also established a new 50-yard breaststroke record with her first split time of 32.65 in the race. The senior went on to take sixth place in the event with her time of 1:10.41 in the finals. She then joined forces with Burton, Rooney and Bowers to collect seventh place in the 800-yard freestyle relay with a time of 8:06.36.

The final school record of the weekend was established on Sunday by Schonborn, Burton, Bowers and Cunningham, who completed the 400-yard freestyle relay in 3:41.32.

Annual Snow Plunge

So here are a couple of pics from the teams annual snow plunge. The challenge this year - lack of snow!! Hard to believe the mid-Atlantic states are buried. They forecast up to 8 inches yesterday - final total - 1/4" - and that may be generous. so no snow angels, or snow ball fight, but we "plunged" anyway.


Best,
DA

7 Sisters Cheers

We were excited to host the 7 Sisters Championship this year. This is a great 2 day championship that embodies the best of competition and sportsmanship. On Saturday night all the athletes and coaches get together for a banquet were the teams intermingle at the tables and get a chance to talk about each college and program.

On Sunday there are a couple of long standing traditions including a 7 Sisters Cheer that is led by the seniors (pictured on the right) and the hokey poky!

This years meet produced some great races and each team won at least 1 event.

Mount Holyoke's Joanie Burton ('12) walked away with the 200 fly and then anchored the 400 free relay, which won by almost 3 seconds and shattered the previous college record by 2 seconds. The relay consisted of Lindsay Schonborn '09, Lydia Bowers '11, Nora Cunningham '12 and Burton. For some reason I am unable to upload their picture. I'll try again tomorrow.

Fitness Center Upate

Construction of the Fitness Center is in the final stages! The new cardio equipment is in place and we are waiting on the strength training equipment, which should arrive within the next week. The Grand Opening is scheduled for September 25th. This will give us time to train both the faculty/staff on how to run the equipment, as well as hire and train the new student monitors.

Here is video of the space as of today - 8-27-09.




This is a video of the first floor that will include the strength training equipment and the cardio equipment. Each cardio machine has an individual TV screen that has access to cable television, as well as an Ipod docking station so you can listen to your own music or watch your own shows/movies. Each machine also has a USB port that allows you to develop, record and track your workouts on-line through LifeFitness!



The mezzanine level that will include spinning bikes, stability/physio balls and dumbbells. This will also be a class space for Yoga and Pilate's.

It will definitely be a great space and we are looking forward to it opening soon!

Best,
DA

NCAA Swim Suit Rules

Here is the link to a quick article on the NCAA Swimming Committees recommendations for swim suits. Hopefully the rules will be approved by the next level of rules committees. This is about where we were last year, when the main rules committee overturned the recommendation to ban suits.

We will have to wait and see, but I suspect this is not the last we will hear about swim suits!

Best,
DA

PS - The NFHSA just banned the suits as well.

Swimming and Diving Grabs CSCAA Academic All-American Accolades

Once again the team was recognized by the College Swimming Coaches Association of America for our team GPA. The team posted a GPA of 3.40 for the spring semester. Here is a link to the MHC article .

Best,
DA

Smile

Check out this article about a project in Minnesota. Natalia Stefanova who is in the lead picture and quoted in the article is an MHC swim alum!

Here is the link.

Best,
DA

Fitness Center Update

Hi All,

So our new Fitness Center is way ahead of schedule! Originally it was scheduled to be finished in late December. Now the push is on to finish it before the start of classes! The progress has been amazing! The new windows in the main hallway allow a beautiful amount of natural light! Nice to have that coming into our offices!

At this point construction should finish in the next two weeks with the equipment moving in after construction is complete. The final opening will depend on the delivery date of all of the equipment.

The equipment includes 36 pieces of cardio equipment - all with their own TV and Ipod connections, 10 pieces of selectorize weight machines and all new free weights! We also have a mezzanine level that will be used for yoga, Pilate's and spinning classes!

I am trying to down-load video of the project but my new computer does not seem to like flip video! So i will keep working on that!

More later,
DA

Mount Holyoke in the Princeton Review

See an article on the Princeton Reviews ranking of Mount Holyoke here.

Best,
DA

High Tech Suits

News from Yesterday!

It looked like FINA was taking a strong look at the newest wave of high-tech swim suits and had initially banned 100+ a earlier in the spring. See John Leonard's article "What's up with the Suits?" from March on the ASCA web site. You need to scroll down a ways to get to the initial article. There are also some other updates as you scroll.

Unfortunately, it appears that almost all of the suits have since been reinstated. Here is an article from the June 23rd edition of the Washington Post.

It is unfortunate that this controversy continues. Yes, technology will always impact sports and just about every other sport continues to evolve with technology. The big difference that I see is that we have now completely changed the goal of swimming. Until last year, the goal was how fast can a swimmer pull his or her body through the water. Now, it is more like, how fast can she pull the suit through the water. The swimmer is now encapsulated in a shell that eliminates many of the physical challenges faced before the new suits.

People have said it is all about the athlete and not the suit. Clearly you still need to be a great athlete to swim at the elite level, but just as clearly with significantly more records falling in the past year, it is about the suit. Times have dropped so significantly that it is not about some new training or swimming technique.

"This is sport that used to be about technique and training and talent, and now it's going to be about technology" until the rules are tightened, said Bob Bowman, who coaches Phelps and fellow Olympian Katie Hoff, by phone. "I'm also concerned about the long-term ramifications for the sport that come out of this period of free-for-all. Once records are set, it's hard to get them back. . . . It's not going to be just six months of chaos, we're going to be paying for this for a decade." (Washington Post article).

And unfortunately, all swimmers are going to be paying for this, literally, dropping $300-$500 for a suit that lasts at best for a weekend championship. This will certainly make for an uneven playing field where results will reflect as much about the training as the ability to purchase super suits.

Hopefully FINA will realize what the focus of the sport should be!

Best,
DA

Miki Yoshida Named to National SAAC

Raising Junior Miki Yoshida has been selected to represent both the NEWMAC and GNAC conferences on the NCAA Division III Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). She will serve on the committee for the next three years. Miki also represented Mount Holyoke at the NCAA National Student-Athlete Development Conference in Orlando, Fla at the beginning of June

Miki is spending the next month in Japan working as an intern for an international rugby tournament.

See the full story.

Best,

DA

Athletic Awards Ceremony

On Thursday May 7th the Athletic Department held it's annual award ceremony. Two seniors received the Senior Athlete Award for competing on the team for 4 years. They are Natalia Sadaniantz (pic left) and Lisa Nash. Both also served as captains this year.

Lisa also received the teams Ann C. Cummings Award for the person for "gave the most in the sport".

Lindsay Schonborn '10 received the Noll Newcomer Award, which is voted on by her teammates.

Lisa was also honored for her being named one of the NACWAA Administrator of Tomorrow. (See previous post). Lisa also received the Athletic Directors Award. This award is not an annual award but is given to student athletes that really exemplify the meaning of student-athlete and make significant contributions to the department. Lisa has worked tirelessly the last year and a half to promote student-athletes as the chair of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and as a department intern.

Congratulations to Lisa, Natalia and Lindsey.

To see more information, click the link.

Best,
DA