The Northwestern women’s swim team has enjoyed a long break from competition since its last meet, which took place in a dream location during winter break.
Since the Wildcats’ trip to Hawaii — where the team competed against Cincinnati, Hawaii and Oregon State — they haven’t participated in any meets. But NU swimmers are optimistic that the break from racing and the focus on training will help them Saturday when they head to Knoxville, Tenn., for a dual meet against Tennessee.
“We may be rusty for racing but they are in top shape and anxious to compete,” NU coach Jimmy Tierney said. “I think our goals are just to get back into being race-sharp and competing at a high level.”
During its trip to Hawaii, the team not only competed in the four-team meet, but also worked rigorously in a training program.
“Training was the highest priority,” Tierney said. “The meet was a requirement by NCAA rules and had there not been a rule, we probably wouldn’t have done it.”
The time in Hawaii also allowed the NU players to develop their friendships.
“The goal was to maximize our time not only in terms of getting in lots of training, but also served the dual purpose of allowing the team to have some fun and do some team bonding,” Tierney said.
NU finished its Hawaiian competition with a win over Cincinnati and losses to Oregon State and host Hawaii. Senior Erica Rose finished first in the 1,000-yard freestyle with a time of 10:10.23, while Amy Mueller came in third at 10:23.9. Mueller also took the top spot in the 500 free with a time of 5:01.07.
“Usually during a training trip with the amount of work we do, the thing that suffers is speed,” Tierney said. “The endurance is good but you lose explosiveness and quickness. (Slower sprint times) weren’t anything I didn’t anticipate.”
Tierney is happy with the progress of the team as it heads into the winter Big Ten season.
“The winter period is an essential part of training for the end of the year and the championships,” Tierney said. “If we get beat because we don’t have all our people, there is not a whole lot we can do. I just want to walk away feeling good about our performance.”
