November 10, 2005 - Jessica Ivry

On behalf of my other fellow diary entry writers, we apologize for the delay in new diary entries. We have been very busy since arriving back at Emory in the middle of August and I will finally get a chance to update you all the team has been up to.

I left you all at the end of the season after we won NCAA's and at the climax of a very thrilling season. That excitement returned when the returning seniors, juniors and sophomores took a training trip to Italy. Yes, we went to Italy and it was marvelous, but there is not enough room in this diary to explain, except to say it was a highlight of my Emory career.

Upon our arrival back our continent, the freshman had arrived and classes started. Our first weekend back in Atlanta, we started the Gold/Blue competitions with kickball and ultimate Frisbee. Then we headed up to Tennessee for the annual camping/rafting trip, which never ceases to be a good time.

The Gold/Blue competitions were a back and forth competition between dodge ball, water polo, relays, team trivia, and of course the swim meet. Our first swim meet provided a ton of excitement and fun. Everyone was anxious to check out our new freshman. Even though, blue won, it was still an awesome meet with some very fast times to start the season.

Parents weekend crept up on us very quickly, as did the Davidson meet. They came ready to fight, but our parent's cheers scared them away, or we just swam fast! Either way it was a fun weekend culminating in the banquet and the marvelous speech given by alum, Jen Kanetsky (grad 04). In true Jen fashion, she passed along her games from Japan and insights of college and a new secret tradition, which provided both the parents and swimmers with a few laughs.

Our meet against University of New Orleans and Georgia Southern proved more fast times and some lessons for the freshman as to how a meet works...achem Sara Hostalet and Felice Physioc. We also roughed the 8-hour bus ride to University of North Carolina Wilmington, where we put up a fight against the D1 team. Even though we lost, there were still some excellent swims, especially freshman Laura Conter and Lara Ortega.

The test sets kept rolling and the plague hit out team; seriously, Dr. Huey, our team doctor, had to come and give us a health talk. The Carnegie Mellon/Johns Hopkins/Case meet snuck up on us after a tough week in and out of the water. As I sit on the plane on the way back from Pittsburgh, this weekend was a true testament of our team's dominance. We came in confident and excited and we proved ourselves race after race. We ended up winning every event and often getting most of the top places. To avoid writing a novel, I will end with sharing one of the most exciting moments of the meet when Tess Pasternak shattered both the 100 and 200 backstroke records!

So, as you all have heard, we have had many exciting events thus far and we have had a ton of fun, but there is much more to come...

Hope all is well across the country and the world!!!

January 31, 2006 - Jessica Ivry

Hey everyone!!!

I am so sorry it has been so long since my last diary entry, but I have a lot of updates for you all!!!  I will highlight some of the best moments for our team since my last dairy entry.

At the beginning of December, we traveled to chilly Miami of Ohio for an Invitational where we competed against our top Division 3 rivals and some tough Division 1 teams.  Despite our very short taper, we went into the meet with fire in our bellies and went after our national cuts.  It was an exciting three days, especially with the huge group of parents who had traveled from all across the country to see us.  Martina, Emory's sports massage therapist, was there to massage our tired muscles and we definitely tired her out (we caught her sleeping on the massage bed by the end of the meet)!  We were so lucky to have her with us, because she kept us energetic and excited throughout the long and tiring meet.  Even though it was a fun and thrilling weekend, everyone was eager to get back to Emory, because finals were creeping up on us.

Finals ended just as quickly as they arrived and we were all off to our homes all across the country.  It was so nice to be home, but I couldn't forget that Florida training was just a couple weeks away.  I can't believe that as a junior I still get nervous for winter training.  When I arrived at the Royal Flamingo Villas, it all seemed too familiar.  The training began and the Steve Lewis circuit was back in action with a not-so-nice twist that made it even more difficult. Thank goodness the weather was awesome most days, because that made the grueling practices seem a little better. At least I was getting a tan for my hours of hard labor!  It was also awesome to have Kelly and Cyrus, our alumni coaches, around to yell at us and rub it in that they would never have to feel our pain again.  The long ten days ended with the meet against University of Tampa.  Despite the horror stories of past years, the sun was out and our team definitely showed up for the challenge. We proved that we could work hard and still show what we've got in the end.

When we returned to Atlanta, we didn't have much time to settle in before the next cycle of practices started and another meet!  The SCAD meet gave us another chance to race and have some fun with it too.  As I finished our last cycle, we looked forward to the promise of classes starting and taper only a couple weeks off!

Now that second semester is in full swing and we just finished our dual meet season, taper is on the minds of all.  We are less than two weeks from UAAS, three weeks from Emory Invite, and five weeks from Nationals!

Who would have thought this season would fly by so fast?  The team has worked incredibly hard and all I can say is that everyone better be ready, because we are gonna to bring it!!!

March 10 , 2006 - Jessica Ivry

Hello from Minnesota!!!

We flew into lovely Minneapolis last night and we got a chance to settle into our rooms on the 13th floor (my lucky number)!!! We woke up, grabbed some breakfast and headed to the pool for our first dip in the fast water. When we walked in, the excitement and anticipation filled the air. It was so exciting to see the pool we've heard so much about. After a day of resting, movies and lots of naps, we decked ourselves out in our white dresses and headed to the pre-meet dinner. On our way out we were stopped by the paparazzi (parents) and we posed for some pictures. When we arrived at the dinner we looked like the classiest team by far and the meet annoucer even told us so. When we arrived back at the hotel we had a little meeting and plenty of time to settle in and shave. Everyone is excited and ready to go so stay tuned because I'll keep you posted as the meet gets going, but wish us luck!!!