Chelsea Langevin – Senior reporter. After a slow start to the season, the ’Cats defeated Pacific University in a Northwest Conference dual swim meet Dec. 5, the men’s team winning 128-54, and the women’s, 116-85.
“I think we swam well in terms of scoring,” freshman Kate Main said.
Coming in at 11 minutes, 25.26 seconds for the 1,000-yard freestyle, Main finished nearly a minute ahead of her opponent.
“I knew I was ahead, but I tried to focus on making it my own race,” she said.
In a close win, senior Dominic Rieniets won the 200 freestyle by just .5 seconds.
“I saw [my competitor] beside me the whole time, but it’s difficult to keep track of time differentiation in the race,” Rieniets said. “Quite frankly, he was out-swimming me throughout the race, but I was able to beat him in my flip-turns and off the walls.”
Both Main and Rieniets said that, while they performed well, the meet was not their personal best.
“We’re in the thick of our training right now, and the whole team will swim better in conference,” Main said.
Now in his fourth year on the team, Rieniets said he plans to work on his stroke-and-turn technique to prepare himself for the conference meet Feb. 12-14.
“Some of the freshman class are already achieving lifetime-best times in the pool,” Rieniets said. “It’s a wonderful thing to see, and it will be exciting to see how we all perform at conference.”
Those freshmen include Megan Sandall, who prevailed in the 100 freestyle and the 100 breaststroke; Chrissy Baumgartner, who won the 100 backstroke; Daniel Werner, who claimed the 100 butterfly; and Seth Ruwitch, who snatched victory in the 100 breaststroke.
Main said she plans to prepare herself physically and mentally for the meet against Pacific Lutheran University on Jan. 15.
“It’s all about physical practice and confidence,” she said.