After a two-week break, swimming and diving is ready to take the plunge into the NESCAC Championships. The break has greatly benefited both teams. The period gives the team time to rest tired bodies and fine-tune its events to optimize performances and drop every millisecond possible. The women will compete first with championships beginning Feb. 20 at Bowdoin College with the men following a week later at Wesleyan University.

Women

With the team training longer and harder than ever before, the women anticipate an exciting weekend at NESCACs.

“This year’s NESCACs will be an interesting one,” commented tri-captain Kara MacLaverty ’09. “This season we have trained significantly harder and are in much better shape than we have been in the past.”

The Amherst and Williams rivalry will be in full swing at NESCACs, as Williams and Middlebury are the Jeffs’ biggest conference opponents. The biggest difference between the teams that is troublesome is size; Williams and Middlebury easily have double the number of Jeffs’ swimmers, giving them the advantage due to numbers and depth. However, senior Meaghan Stern is remaining optimistic and cites the importance of the team coming together at championships.

“In terms of the meet itself, Williams is definitely the powerhouse team at NESCACs — they have so much depth it’s virtually impossible to challenge that,” Stern said. “We’re looking to have everyone step up and swim fast at every point during the meet. We have the definite potential to score big in a couple of relays, but it is going to take some fast swimming all around and not just from the swimmers you always hear about.”

Men

The men benefit from the women’s going first and get a precious three weeks’ rest period. Like the women, the men will have a tough challenge in Williams, but instead of Ephs and Panthers, the men will be dealing with Jumbos, as their other rival for the top spot is Tufts University. Their strategy is similar to the women’s, as they also enter shorthanded compared to other teams. However, senior tri-captain Christian Witzke feels the team has a chance to make a statement at NESCACs.

“Many individuals will face big races, and our relays, almost all of which have the potential to win the meet, will be given strong challenges,” Witzke said.

“A win as a team would be a testament to our team’s collective talent,” Witzke adds, “as we will be forced to overcome the disadvantage of entering only 21 members as opposed to the 24 who can score for Tufts or Williams. We will need every person to be on top of their game, contributing as many points as they’re capable of. To do so, we’ll need everyone to feed off of each others success, cheering for and being motivated by the team’s collective effort.”