"I think that because the majority of us [the qualifiers] had never been to Nationals before, it could have been really intimidating, especially for the freshmen," said co-captain and first-time qualifier Ali Brown '02. "But, in the end, we all put in a great effort and had a lot of fun."
The meet started off with a slight setback for Amherst. In the first event, the 200-yard freestyle relay, Middlebury managed to sneak by the relay team of Liz Chiang '05, Brown, co-captain Sarah Malmfeldt '02 and Becca Stein '05. The relay team touched less than two tenths of a second after the Panther squad, taking 20th with a time of 1:39.92.
The next event for the Amherst women was the 500-yard freestyle, in which Morgan Bayer '03 placed 17th with her season-best time of 5:06.63. Jill Wyrick '05 also placed 17th in the following event, the 200-yard IM relay, with a time of 2:11.04. Stein continued to make an impression with her 25th place finish in the fast-paced 50-yard freestyle sprint event.
The last event of the first day yielded Amherst's first finals qualifying swim, as the team of Michelle McCreary '05, Wyrick, Bayer and Stein claimed 10th in the morning's preliminary event with a time of 3:58.44. The night proved to be even better for the Lord Jeffs, as they managed to steal ninth place from the College of Wooster with the significantly faster time of 3:55.51.
"I think we really proved ourselves in the relays," said Malmfeldt. "Each day we went in determined to give it our all and to see what we, as a team, could do. And each day I think we managed to do just that."
Friday proved to be an excellent example of this phenomenon as the Amherst women started off with a strong 10th place finish in the 200-yard medley relay. The team of Chiang, Wyrick, Brown and Stein managed a time of 1:48.81.
Bayer proceeded to secure an eighth place finish in preliminaries in the next event, the 100-yard butterfly. She was able to duplicate her eighth place finish that night at finals, finishing with a time of 58.15. Brown followed closely behind Bayer in the preliminaries of the same event, grabbing 23rd place with an impressive time of 59.16.
The rest of the day belonged to the stellar team of freshmen. In the 200-yard freestyle relay, Stein proved once again to be a dynamite freestyler as she touched the wall in 1:58.05 to take 32nd.
Wyrick then quickly followed suit, making an impression in the 100-yard breaststroke with her time of 1:08.00, garnering a 23rd place finish in the process.
McCreary closed the day with her own noteworthy swim, this time in the 100-yard backstroke. Her time of 1:00.79 gave her 25th place.
The last day of the meet was definitely Amherst's strongest, with the freshmen continuing to shine.
McCreary began the day with a 19th place finish in the 200-yard backstroke. She was followed in the next event, the 100-yard freestyle, by Stein, who earned a 20th place finish with her time of 53.17.
Wyrick continued her strong weekend, tying for 19th in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:26.02.
However, it was the 200-yard butterfly that was the focus of the day, as Bayer, the two time National Champion in the event, attempted a three-peat.
In the morning's preliminaries, she was bested only by a senior from Kenyon College who broke the meet record, just touching out Bayer. Bayer's time was an impressive 2:04.46. During the finals, the record was broken yet again, leaving Bayer with a still inspiring third place finish.
The last event of the meet, the 400-yard freestyle relay, gave Amherst's team of Chiang, Wyrick, Malmfeldt and Stein a strong 16th place finish.
This year's National Championships showed, as the entire season has, just what an addition the freshman women have made to the team and leaves one wondering just what they will be able to accomplish in the rest of their time here.
Kenyon College won the National Championship with 577 points.