Shaw, who broke her hand diving in early January, potentially ending her season, overcame physical pain and five weeks of inactivity to compete at NESCACs. After finishing fifth in the one-meter dive on Friday, Shaw awed her teammates and herself by winning Sunday's three-meter event with 468.75 points, breaking the Wesleyan University pool and Amherst school records while qualifying for nationals.
"Even though I wasn't sure I could dive well with my hand injury, my team was behind me 100 percent, which meant so much and was a huge reason I was able to do as well as I did," said Shaw. She also appreciated the support from diving coach Derek Chicarilli. "I think his biggest attribute as a coach is his total faith in me as a diver; he has more faith in me than I have in myself," she said.
"To triumph in the face of such adversity in a sport that is so mentally taxing is a true testament to the champion that resides in Kate Shaw," said Chicarilli.
Sparked by Shaw, the team found the rest of their weekend very successful. Although they were not able to repeat their regular-season upset of the Ephs, who took the NESCAC crown, the Jeffs managed to capture third for the second straight year. "I enjoyed seeing the smile on my teammates' faces when they saw how well they had done," said Jasmina Cheung-Lau '07.
Liz Chiang '05, Margaret Ramsey '07, co-captain Ashley Simonsen '04 and Rebecca Stein '05 kicked off Friday's events by placing fourth in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Piper Pettersen '07 finished third in the 50-yard butterfly, within four-hundredths of a second of the school record.
Michelle McCreary '05, called "swimmer of the meet" by Chiang, earned fifth in the 500-yard freestyle. Jill Wyrick '05 placed fifth, Pettersen seventh and Cheung-Lau eighth in the 200-yard individual medley with Hilary Stockbridge '05 and Lisa Rubinger '07 also scoring. Chiang and Stein took third and seventh in a close 50-yard freestyle.
The 400-yard medley relay team of Chiang, Wyrick, Pettersen and Stein finished off the first day of competition, placing third and earning an invitation to nationals. The same foursome scored another invitation when they won the 200-yard medley relay on Saturday, edging out Middlebury by two-hundredths of a second. Pettersen called it "the most fun relay I've ever been on."
"The win was especially meaningful to earn with Jill Wyrick and Rebecca Stein, since we've swam it together since our freshman year," added Chiang.
McCreary and Alexis Johnston '05 finished fifth and sixth in the 1000-yard freestyle, continuing their streak of excellence in distance events, followed by Sarah Dobbs '04. Cheung-Lau took fifth in the 100-yard butterfly, followed by Mia Anderson '06, Simonsen and co-captain Jaime Fisher '04. Stein finished fourth in the 200-yard freestyle, breaking Ramsey's school record, while Ramsey placed ninth. Wyrick and Stockbridge placed five-six in the 100-yard breaststroke. Chiang took sixth in the 100-yard backstroke and Natalie Dyer '07 eighth.
Sunday was highlighted by third-place finishes from Stockbridge and Cheung-Lau in the 200-yard breaststroke and butterfly, respectively. Cheung-Lau's finish earned her a nationals invitation in the 200-yard butterfly. In addition, Johnston and Katie Massopust '05 took seventh and 10th in the 1650-yard freestyle while McCreary and Dyer placed four-five in the 200-yard backstroke.
The meet ended with the 400-yard freestyle relay. The "A" team of Chiang, Ramsey, Wyrick and Stein placed third, but the "B" team of seniors Fisher, Dobbs, Bea Wallace and Simonsen swam a more emotional race. "It was very nice of [Coach] Nick [Nichols] to let the four seniors swim our final career races together, one last time," said Fisher. "You don't realize how sad you're going to be during your last race," said Wallace. "Then I cried the whole [race]."
"These four girls have been incredible leaders this year, and their talents and friendships ... are really going to be missed," said McCreary.
Pettersen swam time trials in Wesleyan's pool without competition in the 100-yard butterfly and breaststroke and qualified for nationals while breaking the 100 butterfly school record. "It was a good meet overall but I feel like there's still a lot left to come out at Nationals," said Pettersen. Amherst will send one of its largest squads to NCAAs in team history, and looks forward to placing well on March 11-13 to finish a record-setting season.