Blue & Gold Meet

We had a spirited, lively match-up between the Simmons BLUE team and the Simmons GOLD team on Saturday, October 23rd. The Gold Team won the intrasquad meet by a mere two points: 314.5 to 312.5. The teams were evenly matched and battled to the bitter end! Victories went to the following people:

200 Medley Relay: GOLD
50 Free: Amy, Blue
Team Cheer: BLUE
50 Back: Virginia, Gold
50 Short-Axis: Hannah, Blue
Underwater Swim: Nellie, Blue
50 Breast: Jordan, Gold
2008 Beijing Men's 400 Free Relay Celebration Impersonation: BLUE
1-Meter Diving: Amanda, Gold
50 Fly: Nellie, Blue
Swim for Distance: Virginia, Gold
Swim for Distance COUNTER Performance: BLUE
50 IM Relay: GOLD
Ugly Suit Competition: Amy, Blue
100 Choice: Virginia, Gold
3-Meter Diving: Amanda, Gold
50 "The Eagle": Molly, Gold
Push-up Competition: Nellie, Blue
50 Fin Swim: Elizabeth, Gold

UGLY SWIM SUIT COMPETITION... You be the judge!

October Swim Fest

The Simmons College Sharks hosted the third annual October Swim Fest, a masters mini-meet on Saturday, October 16th. The event was a huge success. We had over 50 swimmers for New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maine. The fundraiser brought in close to a thousand dollars for the Sharks, and made for a very fun and exciting morning.

One of the meet's highlights was undoubtedly the "world debut" of a new stroke, invented by masters swimmer, B. Pollard of Maine... "The Eagle." Known to most swimmers as "double-arm backstroke" - although, the Eagle himself used much more undulation and turnover than I've ever witnessed!

Because the event was a sanctioned Short Course Meters meet (consistent with the fall season for Masters), we moved the bulkhead and the Simmons varsity program was able to get in a few METERS workouts for additional conditioning! Bonus.

Here are the Simmons women (schmoozing with the Masters swimmers)!

New Toys!

During the summer, I was approached by our Athletic Director to see if the Simmons Swimming and Diving team had any wish-list items for the upcoming season. In my entire coaching career, I've never been (seriously) asked this question! I quickly responded with a few big ticket items... and guess what? Simmons pulled through!

We now have three new Vasa Trainers to use during dryland and for supplemental workouts. Flyers and distance swimmers are going to become very intimate with the Vasa... but not to worry, everyone else will be able to reap the benefits as well!

In addition to the new swim benches, we also purchased an underwater video camera with a viewing screen and DVD set-up. I was able to take it for a test drive during the Sharks Swim Camp and learned that it is simple to use and will be an invaluable tool for our training. I hope to use the camera several times this season with the Simmons varsity athletes, but also cease some fundraising opportunities by hosting video clinics for age group or masters swimmers in the community.

We purchased four new touchpads and modules as well. I anticipate a season of flawless timing as we continue to keep our facility state-of-the-art!

Awards Banquet

The Simmons Department of Athletics hosted the annual Awards Banquet, Evening of Champions, on May 4th. The event was fantastic! It was great to have an opportunity (along with the captains) to brag about our successful season. Obviously we all know the accomplishments that were had along the way, but it was nice to be able to share those impressive details with the rest of the student-athletes and supporters.

Congratulations to Brittany Torelli, who was honored with the Blue and Gold Award for Swimming and Diving for embodying all the characteristics that make a stand-out student-athlete at Simmons.

Also, congratulations to Alyssa Musket, who was honored by the Athletic Department with the Rookie of the Year Award. This is a huge achievement (and I also happen to know that there were some very strong nominees in this category!).

Any time our entire team gets together, I enjoy the occasion. It was particularly fun to see everyone all dressed up - what a bunch of pretty ladies!

Final Team Dinner - March 21, 2010

Team Dinner and Celebration!

Hello Team!

Congratulations on a great 2009-2010 Swimming and Diving Season. To celebrate, please join your teammates and coaches at Boston Beer Works (61 Brookline Ave) at 6:00pm on Sunday, March 21st for an end-of-the-season team dinner. I look forward to having the team back together for one last hoorah!
http://www.beerworks.net/html/locations_fenway.html

See you then!

SHARKS Everywhere!

Our Championship weekend was full of subtle support for the Simmons Sharks... first, there was a SHARK car parked at the hotel (sorry, no photo). Second, one of the Elms swimmers (sitting next to us) was sporting a SHARK tattoo - naturally, the Simmons women made friends with him! Here's Adam and the team:

Some Photos from NEISDA Champs

Nellie and Caitlin relaxing before Finals

Liz, Steph & Anne on Sunday night

Brittany enjoying the Podium for the 200 IM

Simmons Women cheering

Championship heat of the 200 IM

Alyssa on the Podium after the 50 Free

Blondies getting ready to "Beat the Wind"

"What I admire about my teammates..."

Simmons 8th at New Englands!

Simmons Swimmers and Divers,

Congratulations on an outstanding finish to a successful season! Erin, Christina and I are beyond proud of this year’s team. During the past five months, you have all worked hard to become better athletes and to achieve your goals. It has been great fun to see the team come together, not only as a powerhouse on the New England level, but also on a more personal level, as a family.

Our team’s accomplishments from NEISDA Championships are extensive and impressive. Complete results (including splits and scores) can be found at: http://athletics.une.edu/sports/2010/1/26/NEISDA.aspx.

Event by event results can be found at:

http://www.uvac-meets.org/2010/NEISDA_Feb19/

5 school records were set over the past two weekends. Kaira captured the 3-Meter 11 dive record with 324.40 points and finished 7th overall.

Alyssa Musket improved her own 50 Freestyle school record with a time of 25.02 in Prelims and yet again in Finals with a 24.82, securing 3rd place and earning All-New England honors.

Nellie, Virginia, Alyssa and Brittany improved their 200 Freestyle Relay record by over a second and a half with a new time of 1:44.08, finishing 4th overall.

The same four women broke the school record in the 200 Medley Relay with a time of 1:57.02, moving up four places between trials and finals to finish 7th.

In the 400 Freestyle Relay Nellie, Virginia, Alyssa and Brittany just barely missed the school record during Prelims, but came back hungry during Finals and shattered the record by 4 seconds, setting a new time of 3:50.07.

Overall, Simmons finished 8th (of 22) with 339 points, up 78 points from 2009 and jumping three places from 11th last season. This is the highest Simmons has placed since 2003 with the greatest number of points accumulated in 7 years.

Qualifying and competing in the Championship Final (Top-6) was Alyssa in the 50 Free and 100 IM (finishing 3rd in both), Brittany in the 200 IM (finishing 6th) and our 200 Free Relay of Alyssa, Brittany, Nellie and Virginia.

Congratulations to Consolation Finalists (Top-12); Kaira, Curry and Amanda on both 1-meter and 3-meter, Nellie and Alyssa in the 50 Fly, Brittany in the 100 and 200 Breast, Virginia in the 50 and 100 Backstroke, both our Medley Relays and our 400 Free Relay.

We had 6 athletes qualify to the Bonus heat (Top-18); Heather on both 1-meter and 3-meter, Virginia in the 50 Free, Liz in the 50 and 200 Breast, Molly in the 200 Fly, Hannah in the 1650 and Caitlin in the 1000.

We took revenge, as I knew we would, on Plymouth State and UMass Dartmouth after a couple of close loses during the dual meet season. We finished just 14 points behind Westfield State and just 5 points behind Assumption and St. Michael's. Of the 22 teams at New Englands, Simmons had the 6th greatest improvement since 2009.

Not only did our team shine on the competition scene, but Simmons was also in the running for the Sportsmanship award, which makes me very proud.

Between Prelims and Finals, there were 10 competitors from Simmons that held their seed. There were 5 competitors that moved up during finals, and only two that dropped a spot. In total, Simmons athletes advanced 8 places between trials and finals. Virginia being the most impressive in this area, moving up 1 place in the 50 free to finish 15th, moving up 2 spots in the 100 Back to finish 10th, and bumping up 3 places in the 50 Back to finish 9th. I challenge you to find another team that was as consistent as Simmons at advancing during Finals.

Overall there were 35 season-best times/scores (not including relay splits). These are some very impressive stats. I hope you guys are proud of yourselves.

Your happy coach,
Mindy

Team Recognized for GNAC Accomplishments

Simmons Swimmers and Divers (along with other Simmons athletes) were recognized at half-time during the January 23rd home Basketball game for their outstanding accomplishments within the Great Northeast Athletic Conference.

NEW ENGLAND QUALIFIERS

Now that our dual meets are behind us, let's look forward to our NEISDA Championships coming up in the next couple weeks. Below is a list of qualifiers. Each athlete may swim up to three individual events and four relays. Entries are due on Friday, February 12th - please be sure you have set up a meeting with the coaching staff to discuss entries (if you haven't already).

New England Qualifiers:

Virginia Bette:
50 Free, 100 Free, 200 Free, 100 Back, 50 Back, 500 Free
Steph Bitzas:
200 Back, 100 Back, 50 Free, 200 IM, 50 Back
Molly Bohannon:
100 Fly, 200 Fly, 50 Fly, 200 IM, 100 Free
Nellie Jackson:
100 Fly, 50 Fly, 200 Fly, 100 IM, 50 Free, 50 Back
Anastasia Lyapina:
50 Back, 100 Back, 200 Back, 50 Free
Hannah McQuillan:
1000 Free, 1650 Free
Alyssa Musket:
50 Free, 50 Breast, 50 Fly, 50 Back, 200 Free, 100 IM, 100 Free
Brittany Torelli:
50 Breast, 100 Breast, 200 Breast, 100 IM, 200 IM, 100 Free, 50 Free, 400 IM
Caitlin Urciuoli:
500 Free, 1000 Free, 200 FLy, 200 Free, 100 Fly
Liz Zamagni:
200 Breast, 100 Breast, 50 Breast
Amanda Dirksmeier:
1 Meter, 3 Meter
Curry Girr:
1 Meter, 3 Meter
Kaira King:
1 Meter, 3 Meter
Heather O'Connell:
1 Meter, 3 Meter
Alyssa Rizzo:
1 Meter

Also... congratulations to our preliminary qualifiers, three athletes that made "B" cuts:
Anne Karasek:
100 Free
Isabel Stearns:
100 Free, 50 Free
Meredith Wish:
1 Meter

Hello Team,

A close meet this past weekend against Plymouth State. Although we came up 9 points shy, at least we had the last laugh by coming from behind on the 200 Freestyle Relay to finish first, by 1 tenth of a second! (how cruel to rob the PSU girls of a new pool record!). An exciting meet to say the least. Prior to the start, I remember telling the team that I wanted to see passion and aggression and that is exactly what was delivered. Congratulations on a great dual meet season. Now it is time to prepare for championships!

Recap of Training Trip

Despite the rather unpleasant weather, we did manage to get some sunshine while training over winter break in Sarasota, Florida. In a week, the swimmers clocked just under 38 miles in the pool... not too shabby!

Working out on the Beach in Sarasota, FL

...or was it the tundra?!

Here are some photos from the "beach workout" this morning (Saturday 1/9/10) on Siesta Key. Good thing we decided to skip the ocean swimming. We might as well have been in Boston for this one.