The Lee and Joe Jamail Swim Center was filled with the cries of competing women Friday, as the Snoballaz went head to head with the H2O Squad.
What are these oddly named swim teams? A new club program at Texas?
No.
It was the annual Orange vs. White scrimmage. Spirit coordinators on the team gave their teams quirky names to spice up the competition, and the girls responded by wearing crudely fashioned jerseys in between swims.
The point was to make the event more fun and give the mini-teams a sense of temporary team spirit.
Co-head coach Jill Sterkel enjoyed the display and said the staff tries to encourage such things. She was also impressed with the energy the women were able to exude in a scrimmage.
"I liked that they have a lot of spirit," she said. "I think when we do that as a team, we swim better."
It seemed to do the trick Friday as several swimmer posted good times and the inter-squad competition was very stiff. After the event men's swimming head coach Eddie Reese, who coached at the Olympics in Athens Greece, told the women that he had never seen them swim so well this early in the year.
The meet began with the 400-yard individual medley. The White team, competing as the Snoballaz, took the top two spots with Elaine Ferritto's time of 4:22.17 pacing the field.
The teams then squared off in a 200-yard medley relay, and this time Orange team won in a time of 1:42.92 to win by two seconds.
The Orange team used the momentum and won the next three events in a row. Kristin Siminski won the 200-yard freestyle as she touched with a time of 1:49.41. Hayley McGregory led the Orange in the 100-yard backstroke as they dominated the race, taking the top three spots. McGregory's time of 55.83 was best by a wide margin.
Elizabeth Tinnon won the next event, a 100-yard breaststroke, with at time of 1:01.94, to complete the Orange's hot streak.
Katie Robinson put the White back on top in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:02.42, and All-American Sarah Wanezek gave them another victory in the 50-yard freestyle as she finished the spring in 23.72. But in the 100-yard freestyle, she lost to Siminski who caught and passed her in the final 50 yards to win in 51.53.
Elizabeth Wycleffe won the 200-yard backstroke in just under two minutes at 1:59.30.
Tinnon then went on to complete her sweep of the breastroke events as she won the 200-yard backstroke a second in front of Tracey Hemmerle at 2:16.13
Next, the distance swimmers took to the pool for the 500-yard freestyle. Macie Garrett and Elizabeth Hoffman impressed Sterkel with times of 4:53.76 and 4:54.49 respectively.
The final race was a 200-yard freestyle relay. White won as Amanda Lawrence, swimming in the anchor position, caught Paige Nath in the final leg.
Two of the four women divers competed at the meet and split their events. Maxwell won the 1-meter springboard with a score of 179.62, while Ali Bunting beat her in the 3-meter springboard with a 228.97.
Sterkel watched the races closely as she works to get the most from her swimmers. She finds the annual scrimmage useful.
"It's like taking their temperature. You see who's going to stand up and race and fight," she said.
The team gets much from the scrimmage as well.
"It's really important to us, to see how we come together as a team" Schuknecht said.
Sterkel acknowledged that the team still had a lot of work to do but was pleased with the performance over all, and said the team is ahead of where they usually are.
Schuknecht echoed that sentiment.
"I was really impressed with the team as a whole," she said. "I'm really excited to see us swim this fast."
Diving coach Matt Scoggin is working with a young team. To get them ready he had them work out with weights earlier in the day, as they as they work towards the goal of gaining strength and thickness.
"I was very encouraged that they were still able to get up there and compete," he said.
The Longhorns compete again Thursday at the World Championships in Indianapolis, Indiana. The championships run till Oct. 12.
Be the first to comment on this article!