Boston, Mass. (February 15, 2007)--At this point last year, Walter Olsewski and the Lady Jaspers were all smiles after their season had concluded in record-breaking fashion at the MAAC Swimming and Diving Championships. After four more records fell at this year's conference meet, the Lady Jaspers are smiling once again, but this time around they are still in the pool.
In what Olsewski labels a big step for the development of the program, the 200 free relay team will compete this upcoming weekend as the program's first entry ever at the ECAC Championships.
Less than 48 hours after wrapping up competition at the MAAC Championships, Olsewski, the tenth year head coach, had his athletes back in the pool for a Monday evening practice.
“Despite the physical and mental toll last weekend's meet took on us, we had one of the best practices of the season,” Olsewski said of the evening's session. “The ladies brought a great amount of intensity and energy.”
After surpassing the ECAC qualifying standard on day one of the MAAC meet with the program's first ever All-MAAC relay finish, the Lady Jaspers own the 11th seed in the 13-team ECAC field. The quartet of Megan Goldrick, Megan O'Keefe, Catherine Chan, and Maura McGowan will take its chance at improving on the 1:42.42 seed time.
“I honestly think we have a chance to score which would just be a wonderful way to cap off an already wonderful season,” noted Olsewski. “Regardless of the result, this weekend's competition will be a great experience for both myself and the athletes. We have the chance to swim at a huge pool with a great atmosphere, while being on Hallowed ground at Harvard.”
Cracking an even bigger smile, the veteran head coach added one more item. “None of these four qualifying swimmers are seniors,” said Olsewski.
