Over Christmas break, while the polar vortex ravaged the midwest, the Hillsdale women’s swim team was busy on their annual training trip in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Training trip is a hellish period that marks the peak difficulty in the season. With only one day of rest in a 10-day period, the girls either swam two times each day or lifted weights in addition to a session in the water.
For senior Megan Smith and sophomore Alissa Jones, highlights of the trip included “naps on the beach, our day off, and some team bonding activities that we did.”
While they were there, the girls had a chance to compete at the International Swimming Hall of Fame against many other teams. Smith swam better at this part of the season than she did this time last year, and was happy with her times.
The girls normally swim in yards, but this meet was long-course meters, which explains the discrepancy in times.
Hillsdale took first place among all Division II schools, and received notable performances from junior Cayley Cruickshank in the 50 breast (35.31 for first place overall) and junior Rachel Kurtz in the 50 free (28.02 for second place overall).
Other notable performances included sophomore Sarah Rinaldi and freshman Emily Shallman, who each took third in their respective events (200 IM and 100 free), as well as distance swimmers sophomores Zoe Hopkins and Jennifer Wheeler, who placed second and third for DII and fourth and fifth overall in the 400 free.
Coach Kurt Kirner was pleased with how the training trip turned out.
“This year our trip was two to three days longer than it normally is, which allowed us to really get some good training in,” he said.
Although they lost to the University of Indianapolis on Jan. 11, Kirner noted the bright side of things. Indy is traditionally a Division II powerhouse, and they attract talent from all over the world, so they didn’t lose to just anybody.
“We were able to get lots of good training in over break, the girls are really healthy right now, and now that Lewis and Indy are gone from our conference, girls who might not have had a chance before may now get one to compete in GLIACs,” he said.
The girls will swim about two more weeks of regular practice before beginning their taper leading up to GLIACs. The Chargers will be competing in their last meet against Ashland University at home on January 24 at 6 p.m.
