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`Women’s swimming continues to make a splash early in the season as they have yet to lose. The team is sitting 3-0 after pulling out a 109-96 victory over York College at home Friday evening.
“Honestly, I really do not look at the 3-0 start that much,” said Head Coach Kyle Almoney. “I just think we are very versatile and can put great lineups together and we work together as a team not a group of individuals”
Almoney stresses that this is a group and brags that their success is due to their strong teamwork.
There is no “I” in team. For the Lady Marauders however, there is freshman Brittany Neifert.
Neifert posted her second PSAC-qualifying time Friday in the 200-yard individual medley. She outraced freshman teammate Amie Mowery with a time of 2:18.34. Neifert also took first in the 100-yard freestyle, 200-yard butterfly and contributed to the 200-yard medley relay victory.
“Currently I am pretty pleased with my performance,” Neifert said. “I am consistently working hard in practice and hitting times set in practice to help me reach my goal.”
She would like to finish the season at least in the top eight of the PSAC. This coming week she is aiming to finish top three in the Yellow Jacket Invitational.
“I don’t think that there is really a secret to her success, she is just a very hard worker and is swimming well at the moment. But honestly all of our swimmers are doing extremely well, not just Brittany,” Almoney said. “We had a few of the ladies hit lifetime-best swims this past Friday and at this point in the season that is very rewarding to see.”
The lady Marauder swimmer against York College on Saturday. Millersville swimming has started their season with a perfect 3-0 record. Photo by Christian Shuts.
Mowery finished first in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:22.56. Freshman Katelyn Schmittle took first in the 50-yard freestyle and freshman Breann Martinez took second. Martinez also took first in the 200-yard breaststroke. The Lady Marauders swept the event with swimmers placing first, second and third.
The 200-yard medley relay which is made up of performances of four freshman: Kate Evans, Mowery, Martinez and Neifert. posted a time of 1:58.50 which was four seconds faster than their previous time this season.
Neifert attributes part of the relay team’s success to swimmer’s relationship out of the pool.
“The freshmen pretty much do everything together,” Neifert said. “We bonded pretty quickly. I don’t think we would be as successful if we didn’t have the connection that we do.”
Almoney was very happy with the performances of his swimmers Friday.
“I think the real highlight of this past Friday’s meet was that we swam really well and it took a team effort to do it,” Almoney said.
The team is looking ahead to their first invitational this weekend in Virginia.
The team is working on doing the little things right as far as training and techniques.
They are doing this in preparation for the invitational as well as for accomplishing season goals.
“The thing that I would much rather see from us is to continue to improve time-wise and get more people qualified for the PSAC championships,” Almoney said. “If we do that then I think winning meets will take care of itself. But honestly while winning meets is nice, I also want to see us improving as well.”