Swim Team Champs and Preparation 2018
To wrap up their season, the WA Varsity Swim Team- coached by Ms. Gould and Mrs. Bartlett- prepared for their Championship meet by participating in a process called tapering for the last few weeks of the season. This process is essentially a strategy where, in the practices leading up to a big event, the yardage swam each day decreases, while the intensity of these practices remains the same. Tapering is proven to help prepare for big competitions in almost all sports by preserving muscles. Resting certain muscles while remaining in top cardiovascular shape is the goal of taper. Hannah Michelson ‘18, Varsity Swim Team captain, states that “ if swimmers attain this goal, they will see big results and great performances”. Swim team coach, Ms. Gould has done implemented this tapering strategy every year she has coached the swim team. Hannah remarks that “Whether the yardage/intensity of the sets is different this year compared to years past is hard for me as a swimmer to say. I think she (Ms. Gould) started our taper later this year and is dragging out the “build” of taper longer. Build to taper is adjusting the body to a different way of training; swimmers generally clean up technique during this time, and feel a lot of aches in pains from using muscles that they don’t normally.”
The current record of the Swim Team is 7 wins, 6 losses, and 0 ties. Throughout the season, meet locations have ranged from Worcester Academy’s home pool to pools at both Thayer and Milton Academy. The 2018 NEPSSA Meet took place over the weekend of March 2-3 at Roger Williams University. WA swimmers shaved down Friday night before heading to Rhode Island and staying in a hotel about 20 minutes away from the pool. Ms. Gould instructed that all swimmers wake up around 5 am to eat breakfast and head to the pool. It was imperative that the team got to the pool early to claim their team’s spot on deck, get tech suits on, and to be one of the first teams in the water to get a solid warmup in. (A tech suit is a body suit that decreases the amount of drag your body creates in the water; this process takes about 20 minutes). It is a known fact that warms ups are critical to achieving optimal performance, Hannah says. Warm-ups went from 7 am to about 8:30 am, and prelims began at 9 am and went until 12 pm. Prelims are important because they are trials for finals at night; if you make the top 16 in the morning, you will advance to finals later on in the evening. After prelims were over, the team headed back to the hotel to nap and eat lunch (usually pasta, bread, vegetables). They left for the pool again around 3:15 ish so as to arrive early again to get tech suits on and get a good warm up in. Finals began at 5 pm and the meet ended around 9 pm.”
Events that took place during the meet include 200 IM, 50 Free, 100 Fly, 100 Free, 500 Free, 100 Back, and 100 Breast. Following Trials on Saturday are the Finals on Sunday. Sunday morning will see many events over the course of 7 hours. After warm-ups and the National Anthem, spectators will witness the 200 Medley Relays, 200 Freestyle, 200 IM, 50 Freestyle, 100 Butterfly, 100 Freestyle, 500Freestyle, 200 Freestyle Relays, 100 Backstroke, 100 Breaststroke, and 400 Freestyle Relays. All events will feature both male and female swimmers separately. Following the last event, Award for the 400 Freestyle Relays, and many other specialty awards will be given out.
Congratulations to all of the swimmers who completed the season and competed at the NEPSSA Meet this past weekend! Below are the outstanding results of all the swimmers that competed.
BOYS:
Kevin Arpin- 1st 100 free, 2nd 200 free
Ron Finkelberg- 2nd 100 breast, 2nd– 200 IM
Eric Chen- 8th 50 free, 11th 100 free
Tor Maldonado-8th 100 Fly 12th 200 free
Calvin Xu-10th 50 Free, 16th 100 Breast
Caleb Riberio: 11th 100 Back
Alex Arpin- 13th 200 free, 15th 100 Breast
Owen McCarthy- 15th 200 IM, 13th 100 Back
‘A’ Medley Relay: 3rd
Eric Chen, Ron Finkelberg, Kevin Arpin, Calvin Xu
‘A’ 200 Free Relay: 6th
Caleb Riberio, Owen McCarthy, Calvin Xu, Alex Arpin
‘A’ 400 Free Relay:6th
Eric Chen, Ron Finkelberg, Kevin Arpin, Alex Arpin
GIRLS
Alex Crowthers: 4th– 200 IM, 6th 100 Back
Fiona Price- 4th 500 Free, 10th 200 free
Hannah Michelson-5th– 500 Free, 8th 200 Free
Grace Turner- 6th 500 free
Yuliya Borodovka: 8th 100 Breast
Grace Arpin-9th 200 Free, 16th 100 free
Elianna Rodriguez- 10th– 200 IM, 11th 100 Fly
Caroline Rhodes: 12th 100 free, 13th 100 Back
‘A’ Medley Relay: 4th
Alex Crowthers, Yuliya Borodavka, Elianna Rodriguez, Grace Arpin
‘A’ 400 Free Relay: 5th
Alex Crowthers, Caroline Rhodes, Elianna Rodriguez, Grace Arpin
‘A’ 200 Free Relay- 7th
Hannah Michelson, Yuliya Borodavka, Caroline Rhodes, Fiona Price