October 20, 2003 - Tracy Shessler

And so it starts again. Meet season is here and it's about time. We are all lean and buff after our aerobic training phase, which contained more running than my body wanted to do.

Run, swim, run what? I think just about everyone on campus saw us all running to and from the SAAC in our bathing suits on Saturday mornings. It's ok though cause we got to swim outside for a 500 every week.

As for the rest of our dry land, all I have to say is Steve Lewis. Steve, Emory's new strength and conditioning coach, has the swim team moaning from soreness, and there is nothing funnier than watching a bunch of swimmers work on dryland coordination. I know the track team got a kick out of watching us fumble their regular drills. It's really hard to do dynamic stretching when you are laughing at everyone else around you.

Now however we've begun to break into our specialty group practices. I don't think I've ever seen the sprinters so happy. As for the distance freestylers, well, they love what they do. We all get to throw in more speed work, more stroke work, and more, well work. But we're stronger for it as our efforts last weekend showed.

The freshmen are all settling in and we are ready to kick some butt this season. First semester is halfway over, and if we've all survived midterms I figure we can handle anything else they throw at us. Bring on the travel meets.

October 27, 2003 - Jennifer Kanetsky

After the excitement and fun that is Family Weekend, it was back to the grind for most of us on the team.

In between classes and practices, however, we made one last effort to raise as much money as we could for our Ataxia swim-a-thon held last Saturday. All of the proceeds go towards research for Ataxia, a neurodegenerative disease very similar to Parkinson's disease.

Several of us sat at tables outside of the DUC (Dobbs University Center) trying to raise Ataxia awareness and get sponsors for our cause. Although occasionally discouraged by some people's disinterest, we tried our best and it was well worth it when we did talk to people who were willing to contribute.

For the actual swim-a-thon on Saturday, we each swam 100 lengths of the pool after an abbreviated practice. Afterwards, we had bagels donated from Panera and donuts from Krispy Kreme (thanks to the Ivry family) to enjoy. Krispy Kreme has even been kind enough to donate 900 dozen donuts to our cause for us to sell. Yes, I said 900 DOZEN donuts. So if you or anyone you know might be interested in buying some delicious Krispy Kremes, feel free to email me!

As if the experience wasn't enough team bonding, we followed up the swim-a-thon with another enjoyable team barbeque that enabled everyone to meet the recruits visiting us for the weekend. Along with eating juicy burgers, hotdogs, and yummy cookies from Sam's Club, we all got to kick back and play some sand volleyball and Frisbee.

Now that the weekend is over, we have another week of practicing and getting pumped up to swim Division I UNC-Wilmington for the first time ever. Our women's teams are very evenly matched up and it's going to be a great meet for us so stay tuned for some more fast swims from the Eagles!

November 3, 2003 - Tracy Shessler

Halloween arrived. That meant one thing, apple bobbing!

Last Thursday's practice contained our annual swim team bobbing for apples contest. Ten apples are thrown into the pool and it's no holds barred to be one of the few to get an apple out of the water without using your hands.

The stakes? Permission to skip the next practice set, this year being 1,200 yards. The apple bobbing is really a lot tougher than it sounds and absolutely hilarious to watch.

Upperclassmen were triumphant as four seniors and four juniors got apples while only one sophomore and one freshman pulled out apples. Not too bad for some old fogies.

The festivities continued on Halloween night when the costumes came out. For those traveling to UNC-Wilmington, we were offered a one-time chance to get out of travel attire and into Halloween costumes for the drive.

There are some creative people on this team and the whole gang was there: Captain Kirk, Kelly Kapowski, Sunshine Care Bear, Queen of Hearts, Kobe Bryant, God's gift to women, a whole slew of super frosh, and many more.

As for the drive, well, that was long and... well, long. We had two buses, one with sophomores and juniors, and the other with freshmen and seniors. Other than some arguments over which movies to watch and stealing of those between buses, the nine-hour drives to and from the meet were largely uneventful.

As for the meet, well, Emory has proven once again that it can swim under any circumstances. The highlight of the meet? Shortened team warm down!

The weekend also was pretty exciting for those at home. Halloween on a college campus can't be beat.

Saturday morning brought a lactate dive set complete with a get-out swim. At the end of the set four people were given four times to beat and if any two of those went under their times, the team got out of the next set.

The catch was that no one knew who was picked or what times till they were done with their swim. Everyone hit below their times and practice got out early (or at least with less yardage). All in all, it was a good week for Emory swimmers.

November 10, 2003 - Jennifer Kanetsky

We've returned from a fun weekend up north in Pittsburgh where we swam Carnegie Mellon, Case Western Reserve, and Johns Hopkins in the annual Quad Meet. We all swam very well and had some interesting times in the process.

First of all, we stayed in the luxurious Omni William Penn Hotel, which is the nicest hotel in Pittsburgh. Thanks to Coach Jon Howell's tremendous bargaining skills, we were apparently able to get rooms there for even less than motel rates! In my four years swimming for Emory, this was by far the nicest place we've ever stayed.

The Arizona Cardinals happened to be staying there, too, getting ready for their game against the Pittsburgh Steelers! Some of us were even privileged enough to ride elevators (dressed in big, white hotel bathrobes) with linebackers who were, oh, about five times our size.

Traveling to and from the pool in team vans was also an entertaining experience. If you were lucky enough to be in Brian Seymour's van, you got the lowdown on everything you ever wanted to know about the fine city of Pittsburgh or Brian's life. Ask him what "special thing" happened to him on Route 60...it's a good story.

On the other hand, if you were unlucky enough to be in the van in which Tracy Shessler was sitting shotgun and supposedly "navigating," you ended up going around the block a couple of times because she told Jon to turn the wrong way.

On a different note, lots of parents were able to come to the meet and cheer for us, and we always love that! Thanks to them (especially Mrs. Seymour), we all enjoyed a delicious team dinner Saturday night after the evening session at CMU. In addition to the salad and lasagna, the brownies, cookies and pumpkin pie were a big hit!

After winning the quad meet, our women's team is still undefeated! With that in mind, we travel to Athens, Ga., this weekend to face the University of Georgia Bulldogs, who were NCAA Division I national runners up last season. Stay tuned!

November 17, 2003 - Tracy Shessler

I could be wrong but I thought I was living in Hotlanta. You could've fooled me because the beginning of last week was freezing!

Well, at least that's what it felt like. Then again, 50-degree temperatures feel like freezing to everyone down here. Us Northerners seem to have lost our thick skin while the Southerners, well they're just plain cold.

The strangest part? It got up to 70 degrees by the end of the week. How's a body supposed to get used to the weather here?

Speaking of changes in the weather, it's flu shot time. All through November flu shots are offered at different venues throughout campus. Wednesday brought the flu shot to the varsity training room.

I have never seen so many tough kids nervous in all my life (me included). Those needles are long and those shots HURT! Most people were still feeling it at Thursday afternoon practice. But that's the price for a healthier team come finals and winter training time.

Last weekend brought back an annual meeting between University of Georgia and Emory. After a bus ride that took a lot longer than it should have, we arrived at the UGA pool at 5:30 pm for the 6 o'clock meet. It was the shortest warm-up I've ever had.

Yet aside from the bus ride and short warm-up, this meet is always exciting for us. We get to swim in one of the fastest pools in the nation against some of the fastest swimmers in the nation and the world.

It is humbling to be beaten so thoroughly after an undefeated season so far. Yet it is good for us because swimming with the best only makes us strive to be better.

Bring on the long-course swimming. We haven't swum a long-course practice since that fateful day of the biathlon, erased from so many memories for survival purposes.

Yet we get two weeks in a row of Saturday morning practices. Last Saturday brought on a doozy. We did 40 50s with every other one being fast without flip turns.

And to round the whole thing off, my favorite and yours, a 1,200-meter kick set. Why? Because Emory is gonna end our races on our legs. Bring it on Jon!

November 24, 2003 - Jennifer Kanetsky

Without a meet to focus on this weekend, the last week of training was challenging for most of us. On Monday, however, Jon announced the Miami Invitational squad, consisting of about half of the team, which got a little taste of taper the week before.

The Miami group gets to rest for the Invite on Dec. 5-7 to try and make national qualifying cuts earlier in the season. It can really make me jealous that I am swimming a 2,000-yard butterfly set in the middle of practice while the taper group only does 2,000 yards of practice in total. But the situation will be flip flopped next semester when I am tapering for UAA's and they have to do 7,500 yards.

Despite the occasional twinge of jealousy, there are no hard feelings on the team and we are all very supportive of each other. With everyone swimming so fast already this semester, it will be very exciting to see how fast we swim tapered in a few weeks! It gives me goose bumps just thinking about it!

Even though we didn't have a meet, last weekend did prove to be quite eventful. Firstly, Saturday morning practices are usually long course, but the coaches decided to let us swim short course so that we could do a lot of race-type swimming off the blocks.

Impressively, many people were able to go in-season best times or even lifetime best times in practice! Props to sprinter Hillary Lane who went her lifetime best in the 200-yard freestyle...you are amazing!

The highlight of practice, of course, was when three people were able to meet or surpass the "Get-out-swim" time standards set by the coaches so that our whole team was able to warm down instead swimming another set.

Later that day, many of us came back to the Woodruff P.E. Center to support our volleyball team who ended up defeating Williams College, thus advancing to the NCAA final four in two weeks! It is the first time in school history that they had played in the NCAA quarterfinals, so it goes without saying that advancing to the final four is pretty remarkable. If you ever get the chance to go watch some good volleyball teams play, I highly recommend it. It's very exciting!

After the volleyball match, I headed over to Coach Jessica Berkowitz's (or should I say Jessica Minnier's?) wedding reception with my roommates. Jessica, or Berko as we call her, was married last month in Cancun, but because none of us could make the wedding, she and her husband threw a reception party here in Altanta. It was a lot of fun and Berko looked absolutely beautiful all dolled up in her wedding gown.

When I left the reception, the night was still young but I was tired and didn't feel like doing very much except maybe going to sleep. Because I have good friends like Jessie Burley, Brian Seymour, and Matt Schreiber, however, they wouldn't let me do any such thing on a Saturday night. They kidnapped me and dragged me off to the Havana Club in Buckhead where we met up with alumni David Hiller and Daniel Silverfield ('03) and several of our other teammates. We all did some serious salsa dancing, so much so that today my feet are killing me. And honestly, when Leigh, Julia, Dinsmore, Tory, Ryder, Press, Halstead, and Jimmy are all there, how can you not have a great time?!

Right now, we are all looking forward to Thanksgiving this week and eating until we can't eat anymore. Before I can truly entertain that thought, however, I need to write a term paper. See you next time!

January 12, 2004 - Tracy Shessler

Wow, so much has happened since my last entry that I hardly know where to begin. We finished off last semester with a couple of meets, Miami Invitational and a dual meet against University of the South, both on the same weekend.

The Miami group tapered and ended up swimming very well. They broke some varsity records and posted numerous national cuts. I, myself, stayed in Atlanta with the rest of the team to swim in the dual meet and many of us added to the number of national cuts posted by our team that weekend. The following week, we started with our exam practices (you only have to make 6 practices out of 16 because of final exams) and then one by one we started to head home for the holidays.

It was great to see my family and to hang out with my high school buddies in Cleveland, but I was excited to get back to Atlanta to celebrate New Year's. Many of my teammates joined me here, but what made the New Year's celebration extra-special was that several Emory swimming alums were here, too! It was so great to see Ellen Gabler, Sammy Lippoff, Shea Loper, Jeff Klug, David Hiller and Daniel Silverfield all together again. Not only was it incredibly fun to bring in the New Year with them, but it provided many interesting stories to tell for the next couple of days.

Because such a large group of the team was down here for New Year's, the coaches were kind enough to run practices for us at Emory before we left on January 2 for winter training in Boca Raton, Florida. Sammy Lippoff accompanied us as the guest alumni coach, which made me very happy.

The training that we do in Florida is the most difficult and physically demanding training of our entire season, and I know that without Sammy being there to encourage me, I probably would have struggled a lot more than I did. Despite the training being incredibly challenging and your body aching every day, our setup in Florida is amazing and without school work to worry about, it gives you ample time to relax and to get to know your teammates better.

You also get tan and whip your body into fantastic shape so everyone pretty much looks really hot right now. I absolutely love Florida training!

Just to give you an idea of what we do down there, we arrive in Boca and stay in these really nice villas right on the beach. Each villa is essentially a little house with a couple of bedrooms and bathrooms, a full kitchen, and a living room. Depending on which villa you are in, you live with either two or five of your teammates of varying classes.

I loved my villa this year, and Hillary Lane, Sarah Gardiner, Jamie Lawler, Caitlyn Hoey, and Erin Graves were a lot of fun to live with, too. We do all the cooking ourselves, but you are also able to go out for food if you would like.

Basically, every morning we would wake up for practice, head over to Florida Atlantic University swim, come back to the villas, make breakfast, go out to the beach and relax, have lunch, head back to the pool for another practice, and then back to the villas for dinner and relax for the rest of the evening.

Every third day we had an afternoon off (without a practice) and people spent their leisure time in a variety of ways. Patrick Mulligan was nice enough to bring three of his surf boards to training this year for anyone who wanted to catch some waves.

On a few of the days, we were able to surf right at the beach we were staying on, which was very convenient and a lot of fun. Other people went fishing or shopping, and in past years we have been able to go to the Everglades or to the horse track in our free time, among other things.

Training-wise, I had my best Florida trip ever, and I owe much of that to my teammates and coaches who were always very encouraging. This year was particularly poignant for me because I'm a senior and it was nice to swim with and participate in certain "traditions" with my classmates with whom I share so many memories. I will definitely miss Boca next year.

After we finished in Boca Raton, we headed across the state to Tampa for a dual meet with the University of Tampa. When we arrived, we immediately got into the pool to loosen up so we could be in top shape for the competition the next day, but swimming outdoors in 40-degree weather made "loosening up" a bit difficult.

The voice of Andre 3000 kept running through my head..."Now what's cooler than being cool? ICE COLD!" Despite the less-than-ideal weather conditions, our team made the best of it (as usual) and after that practice we enjoyed an Italian dinner together set up for us by Mrs. Silverfield.

Even though her son (Daniel) graduated last year, she still helps out our team and is one of the sweetest women I know. Honestly, last year I was afraid I might never see her again because Daniel was graduating, and it makes me so happy that isn't the case!

Our meet the next day turned out to be better than expected, namely because the weather was warmer and sunny. We also swam very well, especially considering we had just come off of the hardest training of our season.

Many people swam season-best times or were just off season-best times. Tampa provided us with some good head-to-head competition. It all came down to the last relay, in which we just got out-touched, but our girls definitely put up a fight. I am really proud to be a part of this team.

Now that we are back in Atlanta, we have one more difficult training cycle to get through and classes start on Wednesday. I can smell taper right around the corner, though, and I can hardly wait to start dropping yards! We only have a few more dual meets before our conference championships and I'm expecting some fast times to be posted, so stay tuned!

January 19, 2004 - Tracy Shessler

This is our second week back after winter break and training has been a busy one.

After returning on the bus late Sunday night (Jan. 11), we had one more "training cycle" before normal practice began. This included doubles on Monday and Tuesday, but Jon cut the cycle short by giving us a well-deserved day off on Wednesday for the first day of classes.

Thursday brought on a little competition with sharks and minnows built into practice. It's amazing how much everyone perks up when we get to deviate from the norm. A few bruises and scratches later we all returned to our next set a little happier. Now we go back to our regularly scheduled practice times for the rest of the season.

With the start of a new semester there is always a sense of excitement and unrest around the team. People have to get used to new class schedules, new teachers, new subjects, and while exciting for some, others may find that they have a class during the middle of their previously scheduled naptime!

Though lucky this semester, I have fallen prey to this dilemma in years past and it can put quite a strain on a person as naps are worth their weight in gold (and for those who may be pointing out that naps don't weight anything, its just a metaphor).

There is always the talk about which teachers are good, which ones are easy, who has a grueling schedule and who has gotten off light this semester. But as all that settles in we are looking down the barrel at taper time.

Oh yes folks, your favorite time of season and mine is coming. Its about time too because we are all broken down from winter training, but there's a light at the end of the tunnel. The next few weeks are always important because we need to stay focused and keep our training up so that we can go into taper strong and ready.

There is only one more dual meet this weekend before the conference teams are posted and everyone is antsy for that. So keep your eyes peeled because we're gonna swim out of our minds in Kentucky to build ourselves up for whatever championship meet comes our way.

January 26, 2004 - Jennifer Kanetsky

Upon arriving to practice last week and looking at the sheet of paper that told us our lane assignments, a jolt of excitement went through most of the team when they read the words "PRE-TAPER" at the heading. Although it is a common misconception that "pre-taper" actually means "taper," I have to admit there was a definite increase in energy and overall giddiness because we are starting to drop yards and increase speed work.

On Thursday, we had an enlightening women's team meeting in which we all discussed both our individual and team goals going into the championship season. Even though in the past I have thought this meeting can be a little long-winded, this year's meeting got me very excited for the end of the season. I honestly feel I am on a team of people who are all going to do remarkable things these next few weeks and that together we will be able to achieve something extraordinary!

Before we can really get started talking about championship season, however, there are a couple of dual meets we need to address. Last weekend we went up to Lexington, Kentucky, for a tri-meet against Transylvania and Wittenberg. The bus ride was long (about eight hours) and as usual, we watched several movies including G.I. Jane, The Wedding Singer, and Airplane.

Many people napped on the bus which meant that when we arrived at the hotel at around 11:30 p.m., some of us were not quite ready to go to sleep yet. I spent some time chatting in the hallway with two of my favorite gentlemen, Andrew Schapiro and Chris Press. After climbing up walls and comparing feet for a while, it was time for bed.

The next morning I was alarmed to find out that three of my teammates had caught a mysterious illness and had not slept well, to say the least. Sam White, Jamie Lawler, and Karyn Henderson were not well and unfortunately had to be taken out of the meet, leaving some holes in the lineup to be filled by the rest of us.

All in all, the meet went well and there were many season-best times posted and even a lifetime best by Holly Hinz in her 400 IM! I was excited to swim well in front of my parents, who had driven six hours on snow-covered roads from Cleveland to watch me in one of my last meets of my career. Other Emory parents showed up, too, and it was nice to have a cheering section at an away meet!

On the way home, the mysterious illness afflicting Sam, Jamie, and Karyn claimed other victims one by one. The sick were quarantined in the front of the bus. Meanwhile it seemed like if you had a significant other on the team you were quarantined on the back of the bus. It was sort of weird, and that is all I can really say about it.

Anyway, Jessie Burley told me that when we were driving through Lexington she saw something painted in the road at a construction site that was very appropriate. All it said was, "START TAPER." Now that we're back in Atlanta and just a couple weeks out of UAAs, we're doing just that...starting out taper and getting ready to swim insanely fast in February! It's so exciting, I can hardly sit still.

February 2, 2004 - Tracy Shessler

Last weekend's meet against Georgia Tech was our last dual meet of the season, and the seniors' last dual meet ever. That sounds so sad.

Walking in we knew it was a great place to have that final meet because the Georgia Tech pool is amazing. The Olympic pool from 1996, it is a 10-lane, 50-meter pool set up as two 25-yard pools back to back, with another huge diving well behind the blocks. The space is huge and it has all been redone since the Olympics.

Personally I thought it was a good place to end my dual meet career. As I stood on the bulkhead with my fellow seniors it gave me a moment to really reflect on what we have gone through. An unusual class, we started out with 17 women in our class that has been whittled down to four, and 13 men now only three. We all came in with the same high hopes, and we stuck with it.

Though sad to be done such a huge part of our lives, I was proud to be standing there with Jess Burley, Jen Kanetsky, Donley Zifkin, Richard Kinnet, Colin Roussil, and Brian Seymour. There was no crying today, but then again we still have the conference and national meets.

The meet itself went well, everyone swam well and there were a number of best in-season times recorded. The faster everyone swims now, the more excited we are getting to see each other taper.

This meet was also a great one because it was so close. After driving to Kentucky last week with a seven-hour drive both ways, Georgia Tech's convenient locale only took us 10 minutes to get to. There are few away meets that we can leave Emory at 9:45 a.m. and be back at 3 p.m. the same day.

But after sorority rush last weekend and with taper under way everyone needed a little extra time to catch up on work because no one was doing much on Super Bowl Sunday. The six ladies of the Densley House were kind enough to host a party where we all got to gorge on food and cheer on the Pats!

Another thing happening in our world at the moment is the Woodruff PE Center's roof project. It is well underway and driving everyone crazy! The top of the Woodruff PE Center has been gutted out, and they are building a new roof. Underneath the roof, they have designated space for classrooms, meeting room, multi-purpose areas and, lucky for us, a new varsity weight room.

This is exciting news for us because the varsity weight room we have now is pretty small and gets really crowded, especially when you have a team of 70 people. So the project is underway and has been since mid-December.

Let me set the picture for you; scaffolding everywhere outside the WoodPEC, scaffolding inside the WoodPEC, and some of the most horrible pounding noises you have every heard in your life. The pounding really hasn't been too bad during practice times, but I can't imagine working the entrance desks during this semester. I think I'd invest in earplugs. The end however will be well worth the means.

February 9, 2004 - Jennifer Kanetsky

A phone conversation between Jen Kanetsky and Emory men's swimmer Brian Seymour at 9:30 pm on Sunday, Feb. 8, 2004:

JEN: Hey Brian!

BRIAN: Hey Jen! How ya doin?

JEN: I'm doing well, just watching "The Surreal Life," starring Ron Jeremy and others. I feel like we haven't talked for a while, what with the different taper groups and all. Let's catch up.

BRIAN: Great idea Jen! Speaking of taper groups, how's that going?

JEN: It's just swell. I only did 1850 today. I love sprinting.

BRIAN: Wow! I'm so jealous, I had to do 2300, cause I'm in the mid-distance group. But at least it wasn't 6700 like the NCAA group. Suckers.

JEN: Yeah, but remember they didn't have to come in on a Sunday.

BRIAN: True. You're always thinking on your toes, Jen. I can't seem to think straight today.

JEN: Why's that? Rough night last night? Ha, ha, ha.

BRIAN: You'd like to think so, wouldn't you? Actually, I was at the Professional Bull Riders of America Rodeo at the Georgia Dome. It was just such a mind-blowing experience that my head hurts today.

JEN: Really? Tell me more.

BRIAN: Well, it was like being at a country music concert. Except, instead of fresh, young artists playing today's hottest country tunes, it was fresh, young cowboys riding today's toughest bulls. Plus, my two good friends Colin Roussil and Jimmy McGee came along to enjoy the good times.

JEN: Wow! Now I'm the one who's jealous. That sounds like so much more fun than what I did last weekend.

BRIAN: Oh, come on. It couldn't have been that bad. Tell me about it.

JEN: Well, if you insist. On Friday we had the girls' team dinner at the Densley, that's my house. That was fun. We cooked dinner for each other and watched the critically acclaimed movie, "Pirates of the Carribean," starring Oscar nominee Johnny Depp.

BRIAN: Sounds like a great Friday night. Did you save any fun for Saturday night?

JEN: I certainly did. After spending all day shopping with Jessie Burley, I hung out with Donley Zifkin. Together, we went to the Biltmore house to watch the even more critically acclaimed film, "Schindler's List."

BRIAN: That doesn't sound like such a terrible weekend. But it will probably pale in comparison to this weekend, what with UAAs and all. I'm not gonna lie, Jen, I'm pretty excited for the meet. The team is looking great.

JEN: I agree, Brian. Plus our team meeting on Saturday morning got me really pumped to do well, like a burning key car. There's just so much to look forward to this week.

BRIAN: I know I'm excited to get off campus and to see my parents. I always look forward to seeing what the locker decorations will look like.

JEN: Not to mention the goody bags and team gifts.

TOGETHER: Parents rule!!!

BRIAN: Well, Jen, it was great catching up with you, but I should be getting to bed. I need my rest this week.

JEN: That makes two of us, Bucko. Don't be such a stranger in the future. Good night.

BRIAN: Don't let the bed bugs bite!

February 16, 2004 - Tracy Shessler

The conference championships have come and gone in a whirlwind three days and six sessions on swimming and diving. The meet was a huge success as Emory racked in its sixth consecutive UAA championship win, and best times were to be had all over the scoreboard.

It was great to have the meet at home again after last years conferences held at Case Western University in Cleveland Ohio where it was cold and snowing. Last weekend's rainy and dismal weather in Atlanta was still an improvement. Our pool welcomed back the UAA with stands filled with Emory parents and fans, walls filled with Emory banners and records, locker rooms filled with decorations, and a pool filled with fast times.

One of the excitements of the conference championships when they are at home is the decorations and themes created by the Emory parents group. This year's theme was "Where the wild swims are." Every Emory swimmer's locker was decorated by their parents with an individualized design and the rest of the locker rooms and the hallway leading to them were all decked out with decorations guaranteed to make you smile and get you excited for the meet.

It was an explosion of color both in the locker rooms and in our bright blue and yellow hockey jerseys provided by the parents. We stood out in the crowd as always as a unified, determined and unbeatable team with a flair for excellence. The meet always has an extra feel of excitement to it as you are supported from all directions, from the parents and friends in the stands, to your team and coached gathering behind you on deck. It breeds a sense of confidence as swimmers "ride the wave" of fast times created by their fellow teammates. This year's wave was more like a tsunami as shown by the number of UAA champions, NCAA cuts, and best times at the meet.

But the season is not yet over. This weekend brings the Emory Invite which has only gotten faster and faster over the years. This meet serves as the primary taper meet for some, an extended taper meet for others coming off of conferences, and a last chance meet for others to make NCAA cuts.

It's always an exciting meet because everyone gets to swim, and they get to swim their choice of events. With so many tapered swimmers anything can happen: best times, solidified NCAA cuts, and some breakthrough swims in less-than-typical events for some (Karyn Henderson's 100 butterfly will be a must see).

Though the exhilaration of UAAs is over, the women's enthusiasm continues, and with two more taper meets to go, we've only seen a fraction of what the Emory women's team has to offer.

February 23, 2004 - Jennifer Kanetsky

Last week we competed in our own Emory Invitational, which provided each of us with different opportunities. Opportunities to taper for another championship meet, opportunities to swim faster than we did at UAAs to try to make national cuts, or opportunities to swim off events for fun.

This meet was somewhat different in comparison to past Emory Invitationals because we raced against many more schools and swimmers than usual, giving the "Evite" a more competitive flavor. Perhaps partly due to this heightened competitiveness, our girls swam incredibly fast, resulting in the best Emory Invite ever!

Highlighting the group that targeted the Evite as its championship meet, Suzanna Zifkin dropped 18 seconds in her mile to post a national qualifying time and Laura Blackwell also earned herself her first B cut at Emory in the 400 IM! The group that continued tapering for a week after UAAs also posted some fast times, most notably Dana Inserra's automatic national qualifying time in the 200-yard butterfly.

Although it was incredible to watch so many of my teammates swim so well, some of my favorite races to watch were those in which people swam events that they normally would never get the chance to swim. For example, because our team has so many butterfliers, and also because she is a breaststroker/IMer, Karyn Henderson didn't get the chance to swim the 100 fly the entire season...until last weekend. She ended up breaking a minute, swimming a lifetime-best time, and posting another B cut in that respective race!

I think the funniest race of the meet, though, was Justin Hake's 100-yard breaststroke. Testing his manhood, his goal was to swim faster in that race than his girlfriend, Ali Smith, had swum the previous week at UAAs. Well, Justin still has his manhood, at least for a couple more weeks. He beat Ali's 1:06.05 by going 1:05.98, but we all know that Ali will swim faster than that at NCAAs.

With only the national championships left this season, we are waiting for the end of the week when we find out who from our team will be invited to compete at "The Show". It looks like we'll have 18 girls again this year (the maximum number of girls you can take from a single team), and we are eager to improve on our third place finish from last year, to say the least. If you haven't been checking out our swims this year, now is a darn good time to start. We're gonna put on a one helluva show, and that's a promise!

March 1, 2004 - Tracy Shessler

Last Thursday the women's 2004 national teams were decided. Emory will be going into the meet 18 strong, the most of any women's team in Division III, and the maximum number any squad is allowed.

The group includes five freshmen, five sophomores, five juniors, and three seniors. Our staff entourage will also be one of the largest of the meet with four coaches and a senior team manager. We are ready to kick some butt.

Monday (today) marks 10 days out from the meet. 10 more days of taper and preparation, and only 10 more days of hairy legs! We have been enjoying ourselves on deck as the meet draws closer and our practices shrink in size through psych up gifts from team members to one another, cheers, and general rambunctiousness.

You can't help but join in the fun and good mood when you see Jamie Lawler and Sarah Nicholson playing around on the big, red rubber ball in the pool. I still have yet to see them land on the ball without it flying away at least three lanes.

The sprinters have also taken to teach Jon the lyrics to "Ice Ice Baby." He's really very, um, good. Throwing general equipment bags and lifeguard buoys in Julia and Jessie Burley's lanes is another team favorite.

In between sets there is so much laughter and spirits are high. The anticipation and excitement is only growing. This group of women is so talented and keyed up there are no limits to what we can accomplish. Who needs a spring break? Bring on St. Louis and nationals.

March 22, 2004 - Tracy Shessler

The past four years have been the best of my life. I have grown and learned so much from my team, which makes it so much harder for me to leave. This time of year, after the excitement of taper and nationals has wound down, creates great opportunity for reflection. From the class of 2004: Jessica Burley, Jennifer Kanetsky, Tracy Shessler, and Donley Zifkin, here are ours:

Four years ago, we came in as a class of 17 girls and now prepare to leave as four of the luckiest women to come through Emory swimming. Not only have we changed over the past four years, but the team we leave is also very different from the team we entered with.

Going through four years as guinea pigs to Jon Howell's wicked experiments, we leave stronger and wiser, a little crazy at times, and reasonably bare, but the team is what we helped make and we are so proud to have lived in a legacy.

We've given up so much to be scholar athletes, from all the early morning wake-up calls to the afternoon practices that ran just a little longer than anticipated. From coming back from winter break early to spend 10 days in pain while training in Florida, to missing spring break to swim at nationals.

Perhaps you recall seeing us running up frat row half naked in our Speedos on a Saturday morning? We fondly call that the Run-Swim-Run. Known around campus as "the cult", occasionally wearing the big parkas and sleeping at the DUC there is a lot that is not seen by the public eye.

Beginning with the 6 a.m. stadium runs and early morning dynamic stretching, tear jerking laughter in the crowded locker rooms, to the comfort of a simple glance from a teammate that lets you know your pain is shared. We have learned life long lessons of hard work, humor, pushing all the limits, and have recognized the short-term nature of a thing called success.

It isn't a secret how close athletes get to one another as teammates, competitors, and mentors. From my experience, swimmers tend to go a little over the top at times.

With a reputation of having quite the exclusive cult around campus, the swim team's time with each other only reinforces values that all of us as athletes share. We just do so in the water when most everyone else is smart enough to stay dry.

Some people might consider our time and dedication to our sports as ridiculous and unnecessary in the large scheme of things. Perhaps they're right. But ridiculousness is what we're all about.

We do ridiculous things that normal people don't do. We take life to the next level. With a combined 56 years of swimming, we have experienced first hand the difficulties, excitement, pain, success, exhaustion, and joy that the sport has to offer.

We have put forth sweat and tears to rise to our positions now as the graduating seniors from the Emory women's swim team, and we enter back into a life where our time is not dominated by daily morning and afternoon and Saturday practices.

We know what it means to work hard at something you love and believe in. We have and it has been the greatest accomplishment of our lives but it won't be the last.

We would like to thank everyone for making our time here at Emory unforgettable and thank you to those who pushed us past our limits. We expected nothing less and we were never for a moment, let down.