The women's swim team has finished its most successful season ever. Its 8-3 regular season record and sixth place finish at the Eastern Seaboard Championships last weekend earned the team the distinction of best squad in Dartmouth history.
At Easterns, Dartmouth scored 341 points to earn sixth place -- Princeton finished first with 635 points.
"I am extremely happy with how our team did the entire season, and I believe the team will have even more success next season," Captain Cory Murphy '95 said. "Most of our freshmen had at least one great swim."
The performances of the swimmers and divers showed that they are ready to take the team to the next level and challenge for the Ivy title within the next few years," she said. "I'll certainly miss being a part of that but I will be very proud of having been a part of such an amazing program and group of athletes."
On the first day of Easterns, Dartmouth scored 95 points to move into sixth place. Murphy took eighth in the 200 I.M., swimming a 2:09.58. Liz Rehrmann '98 also took an eighth place finish, swimming a 24.71 in the 50 freestyle.
But it was the 400 medley relay team that provided Thursday's highlight. Murphy, Andrea Hill '97, Karyn Bysshe '96 and Deb Whitney '96 combined for a 3:52.96, good for second place behind Princeton.
On the second day, the medley relay team opened the day with a fifth place finish. This time is was a 200 medley swum by Murphy, Hill, Bysshe and Rehrmann. The team finished in 1:47.79, .01 seconds behind the fourth place team. Bysshe then returned to the blocks in the next event, the 400 I.M., where she broke the previous school record by more than eight seconds, taking fifth in 4:32.35.
Next it was Hill's turn to swim a school record. Hill finished the 100 breaststroke in 1:04.36.
The time was good enough for second place and qualified her for the United States Swimming Spring Senior Nationals.
Murphy finished third in the 100 backstroke with a time of 58.03, only .08 seconds out of second place. The Big Green's 800 freestyle relay team of Catherine Sterling '98, Bysshe, Whitney, and Murphy finished seventh with a time of 7:49.19.
Then Captain Allison Ruff '95 led the diving squad to the boards. Ruff took fourth place on both the one meter and three meter boards. She scored 389.70 points on the one meter, only eight points from second. Ruff scored 440.35 points on the three meter. Both performances were personal bests and as was each finish. Ruff's performances kept the Big Green in sixth place with 236 points after two days.
Murphy opened the final day with a 2:04.61 in the 200 backstroke to take sixth place. Whitney turned in a 53.23 in the 100 freestyle and earned an eighth place finish. But it was again Hill's swim that was the highlight of the day.
Hill swam a 2:17.69 in the 200 breaststroke, another personal and school record. The time not only qualified her for the Spring Senior Nationals, but is well under the NCAA provisional qualifying cut of 2:19.08. The NCAA championship will be held at the University of Texas while Senior Nationals will be held at Minneapolis.
Unfortunately Hill's time ranks 26th in the nation and there is a limit of 18 individuals for each event at NCAA's.
"Andrea deserves everything she got this weekend," Bysshe said. "She has a phenomenal work ethic, she has been a great training partner for me and I respect her a great deal."
Bysshe finished her Easterns with another impressive double, taking fifth in the 200 butterfly and sixth in the 400 freestyle relay. Bysshe swam the fly in 2:07.46, more than a second faster than the sixth place swimmer.
She also combined with Murphy, Whitney, and Rehrmann for a 3:36.78 in the relay.
Dartmouth finished with 341 points, 22 behind fifth place Brown and 48 ahead of seventh place James Madison.
Every year since Coach Betsy Mitchell took over the Big Green, the team has grown stronger and done better.
The team is losing only two seniors. However both senior have provided the team with countless victories and appear in a total of eight spots on Dartmouth's record board.
"I will miss Cory and Ali because they were such an instrumental part of making this team what we are right now at the end of this year." Bysshe said.
