With the semester winding down and midterms around the corner, the swim team’s season came to a valiant conclusion by setting five school records and clinching fifth place in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) at the Atlantic States/ODAC Championships, this past weekend in Radford Va. on Feb. 15-17. The swim team also said goodbye in fashionable style to three seniors, Co-Captain Genevieve Holmes, Co-Captain Amanda Oehlert, and Marion Chamberlin,
Friday’s results left Guilford ranking sixth of 11 teams in the competition and fifth among ODAC competitors. Breaking two records, the team had momentum heading into Saturday. Sophomore Justine Merritt took ninth in the 100-yard breaststroke in a record time.
Merritt also contributed in the 200 yd. medley relay team. With senior Genevieve Holmes, first-year Julia Hohn, and sophomore Sarah Stone, the four set the school record in their sixth-place finish Friday.
On Saturday, he 400-yd. medley relay team also set a new record. The four team members were Merritt, Stone, Holmes, and first-year Filka Shalamanova.
“This year we really worked hard as a team,” said Merritt. Over the year we came together as a team. We proved that this weekend at the ODAC Championships.”
Stone’s third place finish in the 200-yd. medley butterfly was Guilford’s best finish of the meet. By taking third place Sunday, Stone put Guilford into position for fifth place overall and she did it in school-record time.
“I haven’t been in a high caliber tournament like that since high school,” said Stone. “It felt great what our team achieved at ODAC.”
“Most of our team was sick, but we overcame adversity and fought through it,” said Oehlert, whose nickname on the team is “Linebacker” and who found out she was swimming on a broken rib the entire weekend. “My side was in pain, but having the support of my teammates really helped.”
Also senior Genevieve Holmes was suffering from a high fever.
Placing fifth overall among ODAC teams and breaking five school records, the team didn’t appear to be suffering from injuries and illness. With two senior captains not 100 percent, adversity was met by the squad’s underclassmen, who stepped up to make a statement to the ODAC. Three of the individual records were from underclassmen Stone and Merritt. They also were contributors to the 200 and 500 yd medley relay teams that also set school records.
“This is a young team and we have learned a lot,” said Oehlert. Every single person has improved their times. If everyone returns next year, they will have a really strong team.”
Eight members of the team were underclassmen this year. With Merritt and Stone expected to return with a large group of teammates, other ODAC teams will need to worry about the Quakers next year.
The team finished the dual meet section of their schedule with a school record of (8-5), and an overall record of (4-3) in the ODAC. As well as finishing the 06′- 07’season second in the ODAC, the improvements this year indicates that the Guilford swim team, now only in its fourth year, is going to be a force to reckon with.