They said it could not be done. And the Shorewomen defeated the Bullets of Gettysburg in their first Centennial Conference match of the season.
Then, they said it would not happen. And the Shorewomen have gone on to go undefeated on the season, winning their first Centennial Conference crown in conference history.
In a packed Casey Swim Center, on February 13, where family, friends and fellow athletes cheered on the Shorewomen, the ladies did not dissapoint.
Swimming hard and fast, the Shorewomen broke out of the gates quickly, and never looked back.
With a 139-66 win over the Garnet Tide of Swarthmore, the Shorewomen became only the second women's varsity team all-time to complete their season undefeated. The Shorewomen finish with a dual meet record of 12-0 overall and 7-0 in the Centennial Conference, while the Garnet Tide, the defending conference champions, finish at 8-2 and 5-2.
The Shorewomen won what was expected to be a close meet by a surprisingly wide margin, taking first place in all but one event on the evening. Two Washington swimmers recorded NCAA "B Cut" times and one broke a school record as the Shorewomen joined the 1974-75 women's tennis team (5-0) as the only unbeaten women's varsity teams in school history.
Sophomore Maggie Klag won the 200 breaststroke in an NCAA "B Cut" time of 2:26.31 and broke her own school record in the event. She also swam a personal-best and WC season-best time of 25.55 in the 50 freestyle to win a close race in which fewer than two seconds separated her from the sixth place finisher.
Juniors Stacy Sines and Pam Vasquez each won two individual events. Sines won the 200 freestyle in an NCAA "B Cut" and WC season-best time of 1:56.47 and took first in the 100 freestyle in a WC season-best time of 55.10. Vasquez, meanwhile, captured the distance events by winning the 500 freestyle in 5:23.85 and the 1000 freestyle in 11:00.37.
Sines and Vasquez also swam the bookend legs of the 400 freestyle relay that finished the meet with a first-place finish in a WC season-best time of 3:46.83. Junior Sarah Cooper and freshman Ana Prado swam the middle two legs.
WC finished its dual meet season having won 24 consecutive meets. Prior to this season, Gettysburg had posted undefeated Centennial Conference dual meet records every year since the conference's first season in 1993-1994. The Shorewomen posted a 103-102 win over Gettysburg in the season opener on November 3.Next up for the Shorewomen is the Centennial Conference Championship Meet, to be held February 22-24 at Franklin & Marshall College. This team has proven it can beat anyone, and hopes that it will shine again at F & M.
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