Women's Swimming

Previous Entries • February 5, 2008 • January 8, 2008 • November 28, 2007 • November 8, 2007 • October 23, 2007 • October 10, 2007

Nov. 28, 2007

The holiday season is in full swing for the men's and women's swim teams. This time of year means cold morning workouts, highly competitive travel meets, and worst of all-finals! The long weekend off for Thanksgiving was a great rejuvenator for our teams. A chance to spend time with family and friends and enjoy great food was just the boost everyone needed as we head into the toughest competitions of the season.

Half the team was back early from the break to practice in preparation for the Husky Invitational which is hosted by the University of Washington and their affiliated club team. Twenty-four Gauchos left early this morning for the four-day meet in Federal Way. This is a rest meet for many of those traveling.

With an opportunity for a long course time trial on Sunday, many of the Gauchos are looking to post qualifying times for the NCAA's in March or for this summer's Olympic Trials. Qualifying for the National Championships in December is a huge advantage as it would allow the individual qualifier to taper for that meet in the spring instead of resting twice, both for the Big West Championships and NCAA's a few weeks later.

The rest of our team is using this week to gather steam as we head toward the Vegas Invitational, which is held December 15-17. This is typically a very exciting meet for us. Most, if not all of the team will race in fast suits and those who did not travel to Washington will have some rest heading into the meet. Last year, the women broke a long-standing school record in the 200 free relay to start off competition and that was just one of the many meet highlights. We are also very fortunate in that we have a terrific amount of support from parents and former Gaucho swimmers at this meet. The location is conducive to enticing our fans to enjoy both fast swimming and Vegas' unmatched nightlife.

The Vegas meet is our last competition of 2007. We begin the next phase of our season at Campus pool on December 28th as we prepare to meet USC the first weekend in January.