October 18, 2004 - Karyn Henderson

We kicked off the week a little late due to Fall Break, but got right into the swing of things starting Tuesday night.

All week, practices were tough as usual, but Jon treated us to a rousing game of Sharks and Minnows on Thursday in hopes of relieving our bodies and spirits.

Friday rolled around, and we departed for our first real meet against Davidson. Although we did not have our usual driver (we love you Young Blood), we had an enjoyable road trip to North Carolina.

We had not lost to Davidson the past few years, but Jon had warned us that it could potentially be a close meet. After his inspirational pre-meet talk involving legends of Emory's swimming past, we all were excited to show Davidson, once again, what we are made of.

Everyone was up on their feet cheering the whole meet as we fought to victory. Race after race we proved to Davidson, the crowd and to ourselves what Emory Swimming and Diving represents.

After an awesome start to the season, we packed up and headed back home to our beloved Georgia for weekend or rest and recuperation. Hopefully this weekend, our first home meet, against Agnes Scott, will prove to be as exciting!

October 25, 2004 - Alexis Smith

Well, we survived our hardest week so far since we upped our yardage in both the morning and afternoon practices. We've also settled into our full weight room routine with our strength and conditioning coach, affectionately dubbed "Dynamic Steve" for his love of torturing us with aerobic weightlifting sets.

You know when you watch weightlifting in the Olympics and they jump with the barbell and put it over their heads? Not with as much weight of course, but yeah, we do that.

Probably the biggest change last week is that the sprinters have started power racks, and the non-sprinters have started asking Jon (Howell) every morning why they don't get to do power racks. Specifically Brandon Burke, a 400 IMer, who will never accept the fact that fate just doesn't have power racks in store for him.

To round out the week, the Emory women hosted Agnes Scott (Ga.) at home, and showed how tough they were by getting up and posting some of the best times of the season, even though they're broken down from this stage of training.

The first group of recruits we have coming in this season were lucky enough to be in town to enjoy the event, and they really got a taste of what our team is about.

So now that we've had a day off... who's ready for spinning class tomorrow morning?

November 1, 2004 - Karyn Henderson

Over the past few weeks the infamous animal kick set had been looming over our heads. Sure enough, Monday afternoon our fears were realized and we commenced with ten 100's kick as fast as you can go on the fastest interval you can make.
Now, although I do not have asthma, this set makes me feel like I do and I sympathize with those who have to deal with the uncomfortable wheezing on a regular basis.

The week progressed as usual with little obstacles everyday; each triumph leading us closer to our end-of-season goals.

Friday Jon held our annual apple-bobbing contest. He threw a few apples in the pool and those who were tenacious enough to actually fight the crowd and get their jaw locked on one were rewarded with a scrumptious apple instead of doing part of the next set.

Last weekend we not only had a meet against UNC-Wilmington, it was also parents' weekend. Parents come in from around the country; everywhere from Seattle to Jacksonville. The huge crowd added to the excitement as we plowed through the grueling sixteen order of event format.

The meet proved to be a real turning point; event after event we had breakthrough swims. Holly Hinz and Dana Inserra made the first "A" cuts (automatic national qualifying times) for the season in two of the toughest events, the 500 free and 200 fly.

That evening, 140 swimmers, divers and their family gathered into Cox Hall Ballroom for a delightful dinner featuring Shawn Faurot, an Emory swimming alum, as a guest speaker.

More to come next week after we continue our success at the Quad Meet in Pittsburgh!

November 8, 2004 - Alexis Smith

Last weekend proved to be the most exciting yet for the Emory squad. Parkas were brought out and hats and gloves were donned as we trekked from Atlanta to Pittsburgh for our first quad meet of the season. The weather that welcomed us Friday night reminded many of us why we decided to travel south to go to school in the first place.

Bright and early Saturday morning we headed to the pool to cheer on our milers as they set the tone in the first race against our competition from Carnegie Mellon University (Pa.), Johns Hopkins University (Md.), and Case Western Reserve University (Ohio). Leigh Campbell won the event with an automatic national qualifying time of 17:18.71.

Leigh had the rest of the team up on their feet cheering for her and when Nick Lake and Dan Weissman finished 1-2 in the men's mile immediately afterwards, the energy level was amazing. We had succeeded in coming into the meet and making a statement that we weren't afraid to get after our races, even if we were tired, and that we were going to be the ones to set the standard of competition for the weekend.

The energy carried us through the four-session format of the meet, with Emory swimmers posting numerous in-season best times at a point in the season where that is not an easy feat. We also got to make friends with some Philadelphia Eagles fans staying in our hotel, and we had the chance to cheer on the Emory men's and women's soccer teams who were competing for the UAA championship on the field directly outside the pool we were racing in.

The best part of the weekend? No team warm down. After every meet, we warm down as a team, inevitably doing more yardage than we would choose to on our own, but not this time!

In his usual fashion, Jon booked us a flight home that left from the Pittsburgh airport less than two hours after the meet was supposed to end. Even so, he was going to try to have us warm down together, but we talked some sense into him and made our flight with 10 whole minutes to spare!

Now safely back in ATL, a special thank you goes to the parents who came to the meet to cheer us on, and who provided a wonderfully delicious dinner (complete with about 15 different dessert choices... amazing, I know) for us after Saturday night's session. We really appreciate how much you do for our team.

November 16, 2004 - Karyn Henderson

(Narrative by John Sutter)

Because Ms. Karyn Henderson is too busy making me pancakes and doing kick sets to write anything, this week's diary entry will be brought to you by none other than that crazy diver kid with a beard. Accordingly, no references will be made to swimmers, swimming sets, WEDNESDAY TEST SETS, animal kicks, or kick sets.

Last week will go down in Emory Diving history as the week the divers stopped diving. Monday, while the swim team (sorry, just name dropping) sat through its hour-long weekly meeting, the divers played catch with our coach, Alex.

I, for one, am glad that Alex's extraordinary record as an Olympic medalist, former coach of the Belarus national team, and 11-time national champion in the former Soviet Union doesn't make him overqualified to throw Erin's chamois at us while we're doing dives, flips and spins. Too bad we're divers and suck at catching.

Other diving activities for the week included: being forced to do handstands on the three-meter board, which is much harder and more terrifying that it may look; laughing at Jackie not being able to lift 20 pounds over her head; seeing Sarah run; and watching Lisa bounce up and down and up and down the stairs while running stadiums for hours. Holler at getting in shape.

Hope you have enjoyed this trip into the world of diving. Go Eagles! ...and kick sets! (sorry, had to throw it in)!

November 22, 2004 - Alexis Smith

Assistant coach Dan Silverfield, who swam for Jon for four years during his career at Emory, summed up Saturday morning's practice with the comment, "Jon Howell's stock is through the roof right now."

Saturday morning was our first opportunity of the season for a "get out swim." The way it works is we swim warm-ups and a pre-set. We then all get up and race a specific event from the blocks.

Before practice, Jon will have already chosen six people and given them goal times in the event. Goal times range from best in-season times to lifetime best times, but the trick is that no one knows which six people he has picked or what the goal times are until after the races are over, forcing everyone to go all out. If four out of the six people make their goal times, then practice is over early. If not, we do another set and then get up and race again. There are three sets total and three races.

This time the races were 200 free, 100 fly, and 50 breast. I don't remember what the races were last year, but I do know that we didn't make enough goal times on the earlier races and we ended up having to do the entire practice anyway--most disappointing "get out swim" day ever.

This year was a different story entirely. Everyone was excited and got behind other peoples' lanes to cheer them on. Of the original six Jon chose, three of them made their goal times, but there was one heat left to race. Jon's baby girl must have slept through the night the night before because he was in an amazingly generous mood and decided that he would pick another person from the final heat, and give us an extra chance to get out early.

As a side note, it needs to be said that we should have gotten out after the original six swimmers. Nick Lake's best in-season 200 free time is 1:52 and Jon made his goal time 1:48.0... he went 1:49.3, three seconds faster than his best in-season time ever, and it didn't count!

The final heat was three freshmen boys going head to head. Jon picked Stefan Mianowski (affectionately called Silk) and waited until the boys reached the 100 before setting his goal time so that he had an even greater chance of being under it. The team was going nuts, screaming and cheering and banging kickboards on the blocks. When Silk came in a tenth over his goal time and Jon saw the watch, he paused and then actually said, "Alright, I'll give it to him."

Are you feeing okay, Jon?

Well, there was no way we were going to argue with his statement. We rejoiced and got to head to breakfast an hour early. On my way out I heard Dan Silverfield still laughing and saying, "How popular is Jon Howell right now?"

December 7, 2004 - Karyn Henderson

We came back a little heavier after a leisurely weekend at home for Thanksgiving. Jon held a short practice on Sunday night in hopes of shedding those unwanted love handles we had developed from eating one too many pieces of pie.

With the upcoming meets at UGA and the University of the South, we backed off a little during the week to give us all a chance to get up and swim fast. A select few were fortunate enough to even have an all out 10-day taper.

Thursday rolled around, and those swimming in the UGA Invite departed for Athens. Our superior motor chariot chauffeured us to the luxurious Holiday Inn Express where we spent the evening relaxing and preparing for three full days of fast swimming.

We went toe to toe with top tier Division I teams from all over the country, and as the weekend unraveled, there were four new varsity records and 56 additional NCAA cuts.

Those who went to the University of the South meet also proved to be successful. Amanda Moser qualified for NCAA's (the first female diver to qualify for quite some time) and those who swam ended the first semester with a bang. Great job everyone!

January 24, 2005 - Karyn Henderson

Cinquain: a short, usually unrhymed poem consisting of twenty-two syllables.

Woodpec
The place we train
Making us feel tired
So that we have to take more naps
Cold water

Transy
Competitor
Visited Atlanta
Tried to match our abilities
They Failed

Sam White
Maima to some
Fast swimming all the time
Her first A cut of the season
Awesome

And Leigh
Ridiculous
Trains faster than the boys
Two ludicrous swims in a row
Jaws Drop

Emory
We are ready
We will make a statement
You won't forget after we're done
Watch Out!

January 31, 2005 - Alexis Smith

Greetings once again from "Hotlanta," which currently is not hot at all. We are presently thawing out after last weekend enduring the first ice storm the city has seen in a long time.

Due to the weather, we were forced to postpone our meet Saturday against Georgia Tech and the University of North Florida, but North Florida was nice enough to stay an extra day so that we had the opportunity to race on Sunday instead.

This meet marked an important part of our season, because everyone is beginning to prepare for their end-of-season championship meets. Some groups have begun to taper, and some are enviously awaiting taper still, but regardless of being separated by training groups right now, the team focus has not been lost.

Many girls stepped up on Sunday and met the challenge of racing during the "gray area" in the middle of taper. We got behind each other and cheered our team to multiple individual victories against two impressive Division I opponents, and a team victory over North Florida.

For this meet, the "Kid Dynamite" award went to Kim Seaman for posting best times in each of her three events on Sunday. This award is newly established on the women's team and will serve to recognize a standout performer after each competition.

"Kid Dynamite" is the nickname that was given by Emory's school newspaper to one of the current seniors, Leigh Campbell, when she first made a huge impression on the team as a freshman. The nickname hasn't stuck, but it hasn't been forgotten either.

The "Kid Dynamite" award will continue to serve as a reminder of the great capabilities and amazing things to come for the Emory women. Just wait until we're fully tapered!

February 8, 2005 - Karyn Henderson

We started off the week a little tired after just having the meet against Georgia Tech on Sunday. With everybody in the respective groups (UAA, Emory Invite and Non-Taper) things seemed a little hectic.

Everybody got out of practice at different times and our cohesiveness seemed to have dissipated a little. To help our team feel unified during taper, it's a tradition that each class comes up with a gift to present the whole team before practice.

Last week it was my class's turn (the junior class). We had decided to make these awfully gaudy, yet adorable, bracelets out of random blue, yellow and white beads. Additionally, we made sugar cookies with everybody's name on them. The yummy cookies made our tummies happy while the matching bracelets hopefully helped the team to feel more unified as we head into the most important part of our season.

In addition to class gifts, we also follow the tradition of having a "secret psyche." Each person randomly picks another person on the team and gives them little gifts every so often in hopes of helping them get excited for their big meet.

For example, today I received a sign with a picture of Martha Stewart on it which read, "Fast Swimming: It's a Good Thing" and the latest copy of "Martha Stewart Living." Now, I absolutely adore Martha, despite her recent troubles, so naturally I was very excited to receive her, oh so, educational magazine.

Both of these Emory traditions really help get the team excited for the end of the season. Hopefully this week when we head to Chicago for UAAs, our excitement will translate into fast swimming!

March 16, 2005 - Jessica Ivry

Karyn Henderson is on her way to Florida for spring break and she asked me to write her last diary entry. Following the wit and charm of The Karyn Henderson is impossible but I will try my best.

To put into words the excitement of last weekend is impossible. The past six days seem to have taken six years, but instead of an eight-page essay detailing every move I made, I'll just give you a little insight into the best moment of my life. Ohhh....

I wish I were in the land of cotton,
Old times that were not forgotten,
Look away, look away, look away, Dixie Land
In Dixie Land were I was born, early on a frosty morn,
Look away, look away, look away, Dixie Land
I wish I were in Dixie,
Away! Away!
In Dixie Land I'll make my stand to live or die in Dixie,
Away, away, away down south in Dixie,
Away, away, away down souuuuth in Dixie!

Now imagine 18 girls and four coaches drowning in the Holland, Michigan, pool screaming this cheer, half crying, half laughing, all of us without voices.

Going into Saturday night, we had cameras following us and glitter everywhere, but as soon as the meet ended, it was evident that as a team, we didn't know what to do. From lining up to holding hands to jumping in the pool, we were inexperienced with the whole winning a national championship thing, but we were ready to figure it out.

The moment Jon was announced as Coach of the Year to the next morning, I don't think we stopped screaming. I remember Jon on the podium and then we realized it was THAT time. What do we do? Well, we first moved to create a tunnel for the other teams to go through, but we weren't in the right spot so we moved again. Williams went through, then Denison, and then Kenyon.

Then Leigh Campbell called us together and I can not repeat what was said, but the tears just started coming and I couldn't help it. Then Sam Gillen started crying, then Ali and, well, we were all kind of disasters.

But then our beloved announcer, with glitter in his hair, started announcing all our names. From there to the podium is a blur of clapping and cheers and smiling. We walked up to the podium as 18 girls linked by hands and hearts.

I remember trying really hard to smile and not cry, but well, the pictures will be interesting. From there we're back to what I was describing earlier. Why we jumped in the deep end of the pool, instead of the shallow, I don't know. I guess we will just have to learn for next time.

But with it being our first time there, we had to start our own traditions. It seemed only fitting for our cheer to be "Dixie." What describes us better then a bunch of Southern belles going up north to claim victory!!!