The Keene State College Owls Swim team cut through water with webbed wings during their meet at MIT over the weekend of December 3.
The Owls came into the weekend with both the men’s and women’s team defeating Wheaton college in their last meet, and left MIT with a few new KSC swim records.
Alison Bartlett had a trifecta of record breaking performances in the 50 free (22.92), 100 free (51.07) and 200 (1:53:10) free races. Bartlett noted her all out dedication as a key to her being able to put up the times she has.
“I made it a goal of mine to put one hundred percent effort into everything I do.So far I think it’s worked,” Bartlett said.
No matter what though, the senior said that she still has the jitters before hopping up on the starting block.
“I always am nervous before a race,” Bartlett said.
Tim Smith / Photo Editor
Although Bartlett said she found the remedy for her nerves comes through her headphones.
“[I listened to] Justin Bieber,” Bartlett admitted.
The KSC men had their own record breakers. KSC senior and men’s swimmer Greg Youngstrom set the record for the 50 free when he was a first-year student athlete for the Owls, but since has been unable to replicate that result. That is, until the MIT meet. The senior said finally being able to beat his old time with a 20.39 second finish did a lot for him mentally.
“It was kind of a good mental barrier to overcome beating my record three years later,” Youngstrom said.
Youngstrom and his teammates gave credit to coaches Chris Woolridge and Diana Pimer for having a part in helping them to rewrite the record book.
Sophomore Chris Barriss, who broke two records during the 50 (23.51) and 100 (50.93) backstroke events, said that the coaches have been very effective, and the numbers back it up.
“It’s a fresh start, a lot of us are swimming really fast, so they[ the coaches] must be doing something right,” Barriss said.
Still, head coach Chris Woolridge said that the improvement in times is a product of the swimmers’ work ethic.
“The biggest piece is the amount of focused worth that those kids put in during first semester. I mean they’ve really been working hard since we started our season,” Woolridge said.
Teammate Ryan Boraski also landed on the record banner with a 44.54 second finish in the men’s 100 free.
On top of all of that, the men’s relay team broke the 200 MR (1:30.61), 400 MR (3:22.19) and 200 FR (1:21.54).
Boraski, who is also a part of the relay team along with Barriss, Youngstrom and senior Cole Hogg said that the Owls had each other in mind when they took their laps.
“I think we all swam for each other. We wanted to swim fast for each other. When you wanna swim,” Boraski said.
The Owls will head to Florida on December 28, for training. Woolridge said that his team is ready for a new semester of completion in the Spring.
“I think they’re excited and motivated to put the second half [of the season] together,” Woolridge said.
Jacob can be contacted at jbarrett@kscequinox.com
