W.Tankers Overcome Odds

Remember the old cliche: good things come in small packages? This seasons the cliche became a reality for the women's swim team.

With its team size decimated by numerous freak injuries, the women had lower expectations for the '93-'94 season than in past seasons. The team's overall talent remained strong but it was questionable whether the team had the depth to win consistently.

Sometimes, however, adverse conditions force a team to overcome odds and accomplish great feats.

This season just happened to be one of those times for the team.

"We were at a disadvantage because we were a small team," sophmore Katie Liu said. "But we showed strength in the team spirit we had. We worked really hard together and performed when we needed to."

"We wanted to win the leagye, but it didn't happen to be in the cards for us," she added. "Princeton's team was really strong. It was difficult to go up against a team with such depth."

The team ended its season with a nifty 6-1 overall record and 6-1 overall record and 6-1 mark in Ivy League play.

Its most important tests came late in the season against Princeton at both the Ivy League Championships and the Eastern Championships.

Against Princeton, the team lost by only 14 points, 143-157, a remarkably tight score considering the depth and strength of the Tigers. At Easterns, the Crimson again ended up second to the Tigers by a close margin.

"We swan really well overall," junior co-captain Kristen Gately said. "We lost to Princeton by 14, but it was a really good meet, especially because we didn't have huge amounts of depth.

"Technically we outswan them but they had some awesome divers," she added. "After Princeton we reshaved for Easterns and most people swan really well. Second was great."

Those achievements are even more impressive when you consider that the team encumbered a number of early-season setbacks.

From the start the women had a small team, with only 21 swimmers and 5 divers.

These totals were brought down even further with a number of key losses--sophomore butterflyer Caroline Miller to mono, sophmore diver Montana Miller to a car accident, sophomore backstroker Alexa Zesinger to shoulder surgery, plus various other swimmers to minor injuries.

"We went into the season knowing the team was small," Gately said. "It was hard because we lost some big seniors. We didn't get in lots of freshmen and had lots of injuries. But as the season went on we grew together as a team and felt that we could win the important meets."

The area most affected by injury was the diving team. Out of five divers, only two were consistent competitors. But these two--freshman Kara Miller and sophomore Hilary Grubb--finished in the top three in most meets and held the team together.

"In terms of the diving team, we were knocked out of commission," Grubb said. "Carrie was hit by a truck and [senior] Marcia [Vital] had recurring wrist problems.

"It was not as strong a season as we had hoped it could be but we did well," she added. "For next season, out top recruits have indicated that they are planning to come [to Harvard] so diving will be doing really well."

Despite these problems for the team, a number of individuals swam best times and, as usual, junior co-captain Deb Kory finished the season with six individual top times and four relay top times. These included two school records.

Currently she is participating in the NCAA tournament in the 400 Individual Medley, 200 Breaststroke and the 200 IM.

"Our team goal this season was mostly t have fun and to see what we could do,' sophomore Greta Steffenson said. "Beating Princeton was a goal but it was more important to have fun and do our best."