The Simmons College Natatorium

The Simmons College Natatorium
"Home Away from Home"


“Some people dream of great accomplishments, while
others stay awake and do them.”


-Anonymous








Tuesday, February 23, 2010

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:

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

Monday, February 8, 2010

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!

Thursday, January 28, 2010

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!

Saturday, January 9, 2010

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.





Wednesday, December 9, 2009

2009 GNAC Champs!


Simmons Swimming & Diving:

Congratulations on winning the GNAC Championships for the sixth season in a row! The weekend was a blast. It was so fun to see everyone swim fast and dive well. I am so proud of everyone for rising to the occasion and responding to (and perhaps creating) the atmosphere and energy of the meet. Thank you for swimming and diving with such passion. Once again, you defended your title as GNAC Champs! The team finished with a commanding 305 points, more points than the second and third place teams combined! The list of accomplishments from the weekend is extensive: 6 athletes named All-GNAC, 8 first place finishes, 13 second place finishes, 42 "top-8" finishes (including at least one finalist in every event!), 3 GNAC Records, 1 Pool Record, 1 School Record. And finally... 45 season-best performances (...a list which includes EVERY SINGLE Simmons athlete that competed!). Needless to say, your coaches are pleased. We am equally as proud of the sportsmanship and camaraderie that we saw from our team as we are of the athletic achievement. Congratulations to all. I hope you can feel your hard work paying off.

Here are some impressive stats from the weekend:

ALL-CONFERENCE (AS NAMED BY THE GNAC)
Alyssa Musket
Brittany Torelli
Virginia Bette
Nellie Jackson
Heather O'Connell
Kaira King

FIRST PLACE FINISHES
200 Free Relay (Nellie, Virginia, Alyssa, Brittany)
Alyssa Musket - 50 Free
Nellie Jackson - 100 Fly
400 Medley Relay (Virginia, Brittany, Nellie, Alyssa)
Kaira King - 1 Meter Diving
Virginia Bette - 100 Back
Alyssa Musket - 50 Back
Heather O'Connell - 3 Meter Diving

SECOND PLACE FINISHES
Caitlin - 500 Free
Brittany - 200 IM (beating the GNAC record!)
Molly - 100 Fly
Brittany - 100 Breast
Alyssa - 50 Fly (beating the GNAC record!)
Steph - 200 Back
Heather - 1 Meter
200 Medley Relay (Anastasia, Liz, Nellie, Alyssa)
Caitlin - 1000 Free
Brittany - 100 Free
Brittany - 200 Breast
Caitlin - 200 Fly
Meredith - 3 Meter

TOP EIGHT FINALISTS
500 Free - Caitlin (2nd), Anne (5th)
200 IM - Brittany (2nd), Molly (5th)
50 Free - Alyssa (1st), Virginia (4th)
100 Fly - Nellie (1st), Molly (2nd)
200 Free - Caitlin (4th), Anne (8th)
100 Breast - Brittany (2nd), Liz (4th)
50 Fly - Alyssa (2nd), Nellie (4th)
200 Back - Steph (2nd), Anastasia (4th)
1-Meter Diving - Kaira(1st), Heather(2nd), Amanda(3rd), Alyssa(4th), Meredith(5th), Michaela(6th) - typical Simmons Diving Fashion!
1000 Free - Caitlin (2nd), Anne (5th)
50 Breast - Liz (6th)
100 Back - Virginia (1st), Steph (5th), Anastasia (7th)
100 Free - Brittany (2nd), Virginia (4th)
100 IM - Nellie (7th)
200 Breast - Brittany (2nd), Liz (3rd)
200 Fly - Caitlin (2nd), Molly (3rd)
50 Back - Alyssa (1st), Virginia (3rd), Anastasia (4th), Steph (5th)
3-Meter Diving - Heather (1st), Meredith (2nd), Kaira (3rd)

TOP 5 POINT SCORERS (Individual Events):
Brittany Torelli - 28 Points
Caitlin Urciuoli - 26 Points
Alyssa Musket - 25 Points
Virginia Bette - 25 Points
Molly Bohannon - 17 Points

GNAC RECORDS
200 Free Relay (Nellie, Virginia, Alyssa, Brittany)
Virginia Bette - 100 Back
Alyssa Musket - 50 Free

SCHOOL RECORDS
200 Free Relay (Nellie, Virginia, Alyssa, Brittany)

POOL RECORDS:
200 Free Relay (Nellie, Virginia, Alyssa, Brittany)