Over spring break, senior Sam Gill joined the small, elite group of national champions at Connecticut College. The fifth Camel ever to take home a national title, this was Gill’s third and final year competing as a standout swimmer in the NCAAs.
Gill and a senior from Emory became NCAA co-champions of the 100 M backstroke with a time of 47.62 seconds, just .06 seconds off from the current the NCAA record. Gill shared that winning the national title “has been a surreal experience and absolute honor.” After coming in a close second by .01 seconds in the hundred yard butterfly the previous day, Gill felt that “there was even more drive to win, especially knowing that it would be my last competitive backstroke swim of my career.”
Last year, Gill attended NCAAs in Texas along with senior Julia Pielock, both of whom swimming individual events. This year, traveling to Indianapolis, the two were joined by other members of their respective teams. Joining from the Men’s team were juniors Kirk Czelewicz, Patrick McGinnins, sophomores Drew André and Loring Bowen and freshman Michael Fothergill. In addition were members of the Women’s team, Sam Pierce ’16, Rachel Wilson ’16, Ivy Durepo ’17 and Skye Marigold ’17. Although exhausting to compete in both individual and team relay events this year, Gill was happy to be able to “have the memories of competing with the guys. Having us all become All-Americans is something I will never forget.” Both teams finished strongly with the men placing 12th overall and the women 16th.
As a senior, this was Gill’s last competitive swimming event as a Camel: “at the end of the last session of the meet, it was pretty hard to walk away from the pool and head to the locker room, knowing that I’d never be back, but I’m glad to say I left it all in the pool with nothing left to prove,” shares Gill. Not only was nothing left to prove in the water, but great strides were made in proving the success of Conn’s swim program. With a national title, Gill sees their success at this year’s championships as a “solid start.” Able to break 20 of 22 school records this season in addition to four conference records at NESCACS this past February, Gill remarked “that our program is on our way to the top of the NESCAC and even the nation.”
Although his hard work and dedication to the sport and Conn’s program can be seen as the driving force behind his recent title, Gill feels that “these achievements, including my own, would not have been realized without Coach Benvenutti.” Being named NESCAC Men’s Coach of the Meet for the second year in a row, an award greatly deserved, Gill is hopeful that “with him at the helm, the Camels can only continue to improve.”
Humble about joining this small clan of elite Conn athletes, Gill always comes back to recognizing the team he has been proud to be a part of: “being a part of such an incredible team, past and present, I couldn’t have envisioned a better way of ending my career in the pool.”
