This convincing win gave the Jeffs the confidence they knew they would need for the difficult meet against Williams College only four days later. However, Williams proved to be as difficult an opponent as ever, defeating Amherst 172-128.
"Although it was definitely disappointing, we had a lot of great swims and I felt, as a team, we put up a good fight," said co-captain Allison Brown '02.
The meet started out well for the Jeffs with an exciting victory in the first event, the 200-yard medley relay, touching Williams out by less than three tenths of a second. But ultimately Williams was too tough for the Jeffs.
"We had a great meet, there were lots of best and season best times ... Williams just has more swimmers, more depth ... Even though we lost the meet, our win in the 400-yard freestyle relay showed that we never folded against the pressure or the disappointment, even at the end," said Brown.
Although the team, as a whole, was obviously tired after their recent bout of intensive training at the University of Puerto Rico, they rallied together against Hamilton College on Jan. 24 to pull off an impressive 128-110 win.
The meet began with an upsetting loss in the 400-yard medley relay, an event that the Jeffs had not previously lost. The Jeffs bounced back with a vengeance in the second event, the 1000-yard freestyle, with Katie Massopust '05, Rory Miller '03 and Sarah Dobbs '04 placing first, second and third, respectively, with more than 13 seconds to spare.
The freshmen once again showed their incredible value on the team, with Michelle McCreary handily winning the 200-yard backstroke, and Stein the 100-yard freestyle; Massopust and Alexis Johnston '05 also gave great performances in the 500-yard freestyle.
However, the most exciting events of the meet had to be the two diving events, with Amherst placing first, second, and third in both. Cathy Poor '02 won both the one-meter and the three-meter diving events. Kate Shaw '05 and Kristin Boyd '05 showed how much they have improved this season with Shaw placing second in the three-meter and third in the one-meter, while Boyd placed second in the one-meter and third in the three-meter.
With only two meets left before NESCAC Championships, the Jeffs are starting to focus on the end of the season and the goals they all want to accomplish.
"I think now we're starting to look ahead towards NESCACs and Nationals and we're starting to get excited about doing well there," said Brown.