Swimming Preview: Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships, 2011 (Part 2)
The eight teams of the Ivy League colleges will be coming together to compete for the prestigious Frank Keefe Trophy once again. The teams encountered each other last year and proved their ultimate talented and athletic capabilities. Once again, the best swimmers and divers of these eight teams will be meeting in New Jersey and they will be in competition at the Princeton’s DeNunzio Pool. The championships will begin on the 24 February and end on 26. The morning sessions will consist of the preliminary races, meanwhile the final sessions will be taking place in the evening. According to some reports, four of the winners from the last season’s championships might be featuring in the 2011 meeting to defend their titles.
Apart from Rachel Rosenberg, the diving champion, the returning champions also includes the names of Chiara Spinazzola, the Cornell champion and Megan Waters, the Princeton senior. The former athlete was the winner of the 100 metre backstroke last season, meanwhile the latter claimed the 100 metre freestyle event in the 2010 championship.
What makes Spinazzola a true athlete is the fact that she established an Ivy League Championship record in the 2010 meeting when she claimed the 100 metre backstroke in a rime of 54.53 seconds. This is also included in the Ivy League records.
When she asked about her great achievement in the 2010 meeting, her face gleamed as she recalled and she was reported as saying, “When I touched the wall and looked up at the scoreboard to see a number one next to my name, I was so happy!”
Spinazzola went on to say, “I wanted to win so badly and I did and felt that all my hard work finally paid off at that moment. It was one of the happiest moments in my swimming career.”
The champion also said that this victory did not come to her easy. She said that she spent hours in her training sessions and worked day in and day out to claim this race.
The head coach of the Yale team, Cristina Tuescher, said that she admits that she is biased as swimming is one of the hardest sports to train for. She said that all these athletes who are geared for the championships have high aspirations that include the prestigious NCAA Championship. For them, Ivy League Championship meet is the start to meet all their aspirations.
On the other hand, when the Princeton champion, Waters was approached by the correspondents, she said that this event is an opportunity for all the athletes from Princeton to make a name for it when they are successful in qualifying for the NCAAs.
Waters claimed three races in the 2010 meeting of the same event. These three races included the 50 metre freestyle that she won in a time of 22.68 seconds. She managed to finish the 100 metre butterfly race in a time of 53.67 seconds and then claimed the 100 metre freestyle in a time of 49.67 seconds.
The Championships will be providing a great deal of entertainment for all the fans of the sport. The event on Saturday will particularly be spectacular as it is expected that the 200 metre backstroke championship final will be led by Princeton’s champion Meredith Monroe. She set the record in the event by claiming the race in a time of 1 minute and 56.61 seconds in the 2010 edition of the championship final.
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