If you’ve read pretty much any article I’ve ever written, including What It’s Really Like To Be a Swimmer, you’ve probably picked up on the fact that I am a member of the Hamline University Swim and Dive team and it basically owns my life. For those of you interested in what one of Hamline’s least recognized athletic teams is up to, here’s an update.
The meets:
With our season starting in Oct. and ending in Feb., we’re just now starting to get into the thick of our competition season. We’ve had a couple of real swim meets, including the Oct. 28 home dual meet versus Gustavus, the Nov. 4 Hamline invitational and away dual meet versus Carleton. The highlight so far was definitely the dual against Carleton, where the men’s team came closer to beating Carleton than they have in many years. The meet ended with the Hamline men taking first and third in the 200free relay.It was a race that had everyone on their feet, if not jumping off of the floor. You can find more details on the women’s team here, and the men’s team here.
The facilities:
The season started off with a slight facilities hiccup, and by hiccup I mean fit of coughing. The pool had some air quality issues that would cause all of us swimmers to cough once we did any sort of a conditioning set. Our coach and Hamline’s maintenance was quick to work on a solution, which unfortunately temporarily meant pumping in fresh water that hadn’t gone through the heater yet. This gave us a couple of weeks with freezing water and little air improvement. However, the real problem has been identified and thus a real solution has been found. It’s a bit early to say much about the result, but the entire team is optimistic and thankful for the help the University has offered us.
Where do we go from here?:
In the short term, the dual meet for the past weekend, Nov. 18, has been cancelled due to illness on the other team. So now we just have a two day meet in Moorhead before the end of the semester. Come early Jan., most of us will be flying to Hawaii for about a week for our training trip. Before you get too jealous, we will be doing intense pool workouts four hours a day, including whatever other dry land (exercise not in water) our coach has us do. It’s not always bad though. You ever see a swim team try to play basketball? It’s entertainment in it’s purest form. Once we return to Minnesota, we have a few meets in Jan. and maybe one more in Feb. before we slide into taper to prepare for our MIAC conference meet.
Basically, meets have started and Hamline is ready to show what we’re made of.