Noel Elgamal is a sophomore on the NYU women's swimming & diving team. She will share her thoughts in this space throughout the 2010-11 season.
Posted January 23
A lot has been going on since our last post.
To get you up to speed, we all came back to New York early January so that we could go down to Florida and train long course meters and enjoy the warm weather. Our coaches made sure we had lots of tough workouts when we were down there, but we still had a great time and even had a combined workout with Tufts University.
When we got back from Florida we kept up the hard work and continued with our double practice sessions. Coach Lauren always tells us that this is her favorite time of year to coach because we can dedicate all our time to swim since classes haven’t started up yet. It may sound horrible to others, but surprisingly it is fun being back in the city and just swimming and hanging out with the team.
We also had two dual meets while we’ve been back. We traveled to Springfield College and The College of New Jersey. We didn’t end up winning the meets, but we learned a lot about what we can improve on by the time we swim at UAA’s in mid-February. Losing a meet isn’t a feeling any of us enjoy, but we are definitely a stronger team than we were in the beginning on the season and I know this will show at the UAA’s. One of our freshmen, Nina Rusiewski, reminded us to be “fearless” when we race, and that is something that we will be using to motivate us at our meets.
Our three-week training session is winding down as the academic semester starts up again. We have one last dual meet on January 29 and then it will be time to get ready for the UAA Championships in Rochester, NY. It has been a great season so far, and we still have a lot to look forward to.
Noel Elgamal is a sophomore on the NYU women's swimming & diving team. She will share her thoughts in this space throughout the 2010-11 season.
Posted December 7
We just got back from the MIT Invitational, where we finished third. There were six other Division III schools there, as well as some swimmers from Harvard’s Division I program. This meet was our final one of the fall semester, and our swims demonstrated how hard we have been working all season. This meet is always my favorite meet out of our entire season.
To begin our journey, we had a five-hour bus ride which started with the exchange of gifts between “secret psychers”, followed by some nap time, movie watching and finally a pit stop in Willington, Connecticut, where we commemorated our visit by taking advantage of the photo op at the rest center. By the time we arrived in Boston, we were all ready to get off the bus and start racing.
The first session of the meet was on Friday night. Our relay swimmers got us off to a great start and we used that energy to carry us through the rest of the meet. We had some standout swims in the 500 free and 200 IM, and our B-relay won both of their heats that night. After the session we headed to dinner around 10 pm, and when we made it back to the hotel around 11:30pm we were happily surprised to find funny holiday room signs for all of us that our captains made. It was a great way to end the day.
We got off to an early start Saturday morning as we had two more swim sessions ahead of us. The morning session started off great with Gabby Borutecene and Jess Harrison going best times and finishing in the top five of the 400 IM. We kept our team spirit high all morning and we always had teammates at the other end of the pool cheering for us in every race. The morning session finished off with everyone’s favorite relay - the 800 free - and our A-relay finished third.
Back at the hotel we had lunch, took a team Christmas photo and had group naptime (consisting of us sleeping on the bed, chairs and floor of the hotel rooms.) We were cramped for space because we had to checkout of many rooms earlier that morning, but we all made do and were able to laugh about the experience.
The third session of the meet was my favorite because it showed some of our strongest events. The highlights included Paula Guzman finishing second in the 1,650 free and swimming a NCAA B-cut, and Theresa McCartney finishing seventh in the 200 back and 200 fly and swimming season-best times in both of those events.
The last event of the meet was the 400 free relay, and it was really memorable because by the time our A-relay was up on the blocks there were 20 of us standing behind them and cheering them on. It was great to be there for our teammates and to finish the meet as one team in the end.
Overall, it was a really fun weekend filled with fast swimming and lots of memories. Our next big team event will be in the beginning of January when we travel to Florida for our training trip. Until then, it’s back to practices at Palladium for us.
Jessica Harrison is a freshman on the NYU women's swimming & diving team. She will share her thoughts in this space throughout the 2010-11 season.
Posted December 4
Coming to New York University, I had many high expectations of what the school, swimming program, and my life in general would be like. NYU was the only school I applied to, since I did Early Decision. Coming from a small town about an hour outside of Boston, I only had ideas of what living in a big city would be like. Although NYU is significantly different in many ways than how I imagined it, it has exceeded my expectations in a number of different ways.
Coming to a Division III school does not make the swimming program any easier, any slower, or entail any less practicing. I am guilty of stereotyping Division III swimming before I came to NYU. The program that the coaches, Lauren, Lizzie and Erik, run is demanding and they expect nothing less than a best effort. I wasn’t initially prepared for this. However, I quickly learned that with the proper technique and right mindset, the practices are possible. Although I was surprised by the intensity of the program, I knew that commitment was essential. Hearing horror stories from my older sister’s Division I swimming experience, I knew that the main difference would be that Division III swimming would be more manageable on top of a tough academic schedule.
It is ambitious for any NYU student to compete in any sport. However, the 6am workouts and weekend meets make it even more challenging for swimmers. It became apparent that the swim team is not only successful in the pool, but academically as well. Even though we have one of the toughest practices schedules (what other sport wakes up before 6am three times a week?), the swim team is able to pride itself in achieving the highest GPA many years. I have found that swimming has enhanced my college experience so far, opposed to acting as a hindrance towards allowing me to engage in other activities.
The personal attention that I receive from the coaches makes me more focused during practice and helps me pay attention to the little details required. The daily critiques are new to me since I come from a large club team. Even though everyone on the team at NYU has their own strengths and specialties, the coaches make time to individually talk to every one of us. A few days ago, Coach Lauren told me that I should work on my speed during practices so that I will be prepared for our upcoming meet at MIT. “Speed” may seem like an irrelevant term to a distance swimmer, but Lauren proceeded to explain that I needed to attack my races more aggressively and hold on to my momentum. After being reminded of this, I was able to see why the 50- and 100-yard sprints that we do are useful to me. The idea that “everything has a purpose” was told to us from the very beginning and is in effect every day. This also makes our practices more precise and meaningful because we are able to clearly understand why everything we do in practice directly correlates with a part of a race. I am motivated to do each part of practice because I know that I will never be forced to do “garbage yardage” with no meaning behind it.
I was overwhelmed with all of the unique and incredible opportunities that NYU offers because I wanted to do everything- internships, jobs, study abroad programs, clubs, and Greek life. Although people told me that being in a sorority and on the swim team would be nearly impossible my first semester of freshman year, I decided to go for it. Joining a sorority made me the first female swimmer to be in Greek life in over 20 years. I found it very challenging and stressful during my pledge process, but now that I am officially a part of my sorority I couldn’t be happier with my decision. I find it refreshing to be able to find friends not only on the pool deck, but also across the Washington Square Park campus and in my classes. At any other school, being in a sorority and on the swim team would surely prove to be impossible due to scheduling conflicts and different commitments. NYU allows its students to explore many different interests and be able to succeed in all of them. Since New York City is an exciting place to live and has a lot to offer to anyone, regardless of who you are, it is essential that NYU’s students are able to take advantage of their surroundings!
I am truly looking forward to the MIT invitational this weekend so that everyone on the team can show how hard they have been working during the season thus far. I think that the freshmen hold a lot of potential for winning events, considering both Gabby Borutecene and Nina Rusiewski have proved to be threats in their events during the past few meets. Although I have only been a member of the team for a few months, I am proud of the progress that we have made as a team and look forward to a continuation of our success!
Molly Rippe is a junior on the NYU women's swimming & diving team. She will share her thoughts in this space throughout the 2010-11 season.
Posted November 16
I am so excited to get the opportunity, along with my teammates Noel Elgamal and Jess Harrison, to share a little bit of the hard work and fun we have been having on the women’s swim team this season.
It’s hard to believe it’s almost Thanksgiving and that we are almost halfway done the season! I remember as a freshman I thought the first semester would never end. But now, as a junior, I can’t believe how quickly time goes by. It must be all that time we spend swimming, running, biking, holding planks, rowing, obstacle coursing, and doing all those other forms of torture the coaching staff can come up with…
Yep, that is a preview of just some of the work we have been doing this season. While we have always been a team to work hard, this year we are doing it in new (and very fun) ways. Highlights have included a sprint triathlon (1500m swimming, 10 miles biking, 3 miles running) and a “Decathlon of Death.” While those may sound gruesome, they were actually (with the help of enthusiasm from the team), a lot of fun. In between, we have also had some fun out of the pool with team dinners, a scavenger hunt through campus (complete with a dip in the Washington Square Park fountain), a picnic on the West Side Highway, and poster-making.
This year, we have been working through “phases” of practices, with each phase targeting specific exercises and goals. The first phase was all about getting back in shape and our second phase was based around “swimming through it”- “it” being pain and exhaustion. That sounds a little intimidating, but it was the perfect opportunity to prove to ourselves that we can do whatever we put our minds to if we concentrate on positive thoughts, support each other and push past our doubts. The third phase is our Mini-Training Trip that starts this week. While the practices will be quite tough, it is exciting to know that our hard work will pay off in a big way in our upcoming meet at MIT, our big mid-season meet.
In fact, we are already reaping the benefits of all that hard work. I am very proud to say that our record thus far is 5-1. We have had some great swims already this year, with two of our freshmen, Nina Rusiewski and Gabby Borutecene, already swimming lifetime best times in events (a remarkable feat this early in the season), and all the girls on the team stepping up to the challenge of giving their best effort every swim, every time. We are lucky to have recruited a great freshman class this year. In addition to Nina and Gabby, we have five other freshmen: Jess Harrison, Tiffany Hsu, Olga Krestyaninova, Vivian Pitchik, and Diana de los Santos, and one new sophomore, Garam Kim. These girls are great assets to our program - not only can they score points, but, more importantly, they are all so enthusiastic, hardworking, and just plain fun to be around. All of the returnees are so thankful to have such a great class join our team and we are looking forward to seeing them swim super fast this year!
The emphasis throughout the entire season has been on unity. We are working hard on transforming ourselves from 24 individuals to one team because, at the end of the day, it’s the team that gets you through the two-minutes-on-the-treadmill-at-level-12-with-a-10-pound-medicine-ball-over-your-head set (or any other seemingly impossible workout), a fight with your (non-swimming) roommate, a difficult class, a professor who gave a bad grade or just a really bad day. Luckily for us, we are a team of 24 exceptional young women. And, put together as a team, we are truly unstoppable. We are looking forward to a great season of fast swimming. But, more importantly, we are looking forward to doing it as one.
