Sarah Murphy '11 won the 200 yard butterfly at the NESCAC Championship. Photo by Will Tomasian.
Following an unprecedented 11-1 season, the women’s swim team blew expectations out of the water at the NESCAC Championships on February 18-20. At the meet, the Camels produced eight All-Conference swimmers, smashed fifteen school records and qualified nearly half of the team for the NCAA Championships. And to top it all off, Head Coach Marc Benvenuti was named NESCAC Coach of the Year for the third time in the past six years.
While almost everyone on the team performed phenomenally well, a few swimmers stood out with truly exceptional races. Sarah Murphy ’11 upset the reigning National Champion in the 200-yard butterfly, wining the race with a time of 2:02.98, automatically qualifying her for the NCAA Championships. Murphy also led the team with outstanding races in both the 200- and 500-yard freestyle, placing 2nd and 3rd with times of 1:50.98 and 4:59.48, respectively.
Stand-out swimmer of the meet, Erika Fernandes ’12, stole second place in the 50-yard butterfly, breaking a school record with a time of 25.84. Fernandes knocked down another school record in the 200-yard breaststroke, placing third with a time of 2:22.69.
Together, Murphy and Fernandes helped lead the Camels to the program’s highest score ever at a NESCAC Championship with 1144 points. The total placed the team fourth in the conference behind Williams (first), Amherst (second) and Tufts (third), three of the best D-III programs in the nation.
But Murphy and Fernandes were not the only Camels who found success over the weekend. All five Camel relays rewrote school records and provisionally qualified for nationals with top three finishes. The 200-yard medley relay comprised of Rachel Bohn ’14, Katie Karlson ’13, Fernandes and Julia Pielock ’13 seized second place with a time of 1:47.71.
The 400-yard medley and 200-yard free relays also took second place. Jessica Schanzer ’13, Caitlin Munns ’11, Karlson and Murphy swam in the 400, finishing together with a time of 3:53.02. Fernandes, Schanzer, Murphy and Pielock swam in the 200 with a time of 1:35.22.
Murphy, Schanzer, Munns and Pielock demolished another school record in the 400-yard free relay, placing third with a time of 3:31.23.
As exceptional performances by the Conn women continued, Murphy explained that everyone on deck took notice.
“On Sunday night, as the Colby head coach was presenting the awards for the 400 free relay, he stopped and shook hands with each of us on the podium,” said Murphy. “He made a point of telling us, ‘Conn, you all were the swimmers of the meet.’”
Fernandes aptly explained that the strong bond between all members of the women’s team was an integral part of its success.
“The phenomenal part of the weekend was the energy and presence of our team as a whole,” said Fernades. “Every one of the nineteen girls on our team scored points; every single person blew her time out of the water because of how much heart she swam with and because she was swimming for her teammates. We were physically prepared for the meet, but as a group we were able to break limits we never would have reached had we been swimming as individuals.”
There is no rest in sight for some of the swimmers, though. After such an exciting and tiring weekend, those who qualified for Nationals are back in the pool, working hard. They are looking forward to competing against the best of the best, and hope to close out Conn’s most successful swim season ever in style. •
