Katy Thompson

Review staff writer

The ‘Cats competed in a dual swim meet against The College of Idaho on Nov. 15. The women won the meet, 122 to 69 points.

The 200 freestyle relay team came in first with a time of 1 minute, 48.90 seconds.

Freshman swimmer Melany Krill stood out in the competition, cutting up the water in the women’s 100 freestyle with enough efficiency to finish in first place. Her time was 1:04.76.

She also placed second in the 50 freestyle with a time of 29.85.

Krill said she usually swims short distances; she typically competes in the 50 freestyle, 200 individual medley, 200 medley relay and the 400 medley relay. Her personal best is 26.5 in the 50 freestyle.

With such rapid times, it is no wonder why Krill chose swimming.

“I like how the water is so cold when you first dive in,” Krill said. “And that pushes me in my events, and it doesn’t hurt that I don’t get bored swimming.”

Perhaps it is because she never tires of swimming that she is constantly able to discover new things about the technical aspects of swimming.

“I am not by any means a ‘learned’ swimmer; actually, I think I may be the worst on the team,” she said. “The other people on the team know more about swimming than me, and I attribute this to the mere fact that they are older and have been competing in this sport longer than I have.”

The women’s team participated in the Northwest Invitational on Nov. 21-22 and placed sixth with 315 points.

Junior Christine Nakamura, who came in ninth out of 49 swimmers in the women’s 200 yard freestyle, was a standout performer. Nakamura finished with a time of 2:07.91, just ten milliseconds behind senior Rose Hollingsworth, who came in fifth with a time of 2:07.81.

Hollingsworth has been swimming on and off since she was 5 years old. To Hollingsworth, it is not the length of time a person has been swimming, but the possession of a general awareness of what is going on around him or her that is important.

“It is more important that you are a hard worker,” Hollingsworth said. “Hard work in regard to swimming means that you have a willingness to push yourself at all nine practices each and every week, and you are doing your best on every single event that you have to swim, and then being the fastest is not as important. After all, there is a difference between raw, natural talent and the willingness to work for it, for what you want.”

Some expectations for the women’s swim team are that they will continue to work hard at lowering their times.

After head coach Gary Gutierrez reviewed the women’s stats and record book, he said he believes the ‘Cats have a good shot at placing higher at the coming dual-meet against Pacific Lutheran University. The meet is scheduled for Jan. 17, 2009.

Gutierrez said that with more practice, the team should score more points at the NWC Championships than they have in previous years.

With more hard work in the pool and a little bit of luck, Gutierrez’s predictions could become an actuality.