Women’s swim team set for Rice

By Colleen Casey
Skiff Staff

During this week’s practices the women’s swim team prepared for Saturday’s meeting with Rice by stomping rice on the pool deck, crushing rice with a brick and flushing rice down the toilet. Head coach Richard Sybesma said it’s important to him to get his swimmers mentally prepared to face the tough, in-state, Western Athletic Conference rival.

“We’re using these gimmicks to get the (women) to loosen up,” Sybesma said. “It’s not derogatory in any way, we just want to be mentally psyched.”

The women’s most recent dual meet Jan. 17 against No. 11 Southern Methodist resulted in a 129-92 loss. Sybesma said he considers that meet to be one of the team’s toughest on the schedule.

This weekend the women are set to host Houston Friday and Rice Saturday in two of the last three dual meets before the Western Athletic Conference Championships Feb. 22-24.

Sophomore breast stroke and individual medley swimmer Melissa Powell said although Rice is a tough team to beat, TCU can still manage a victory.

“I think we’re just as good as Rice,” Powell said. “We’ll just have to catch them off-guard.”

As the dual-meet section of the Frogs’ season winds down, and the women get ready for the championship meets, Sybesma said accomplishing the team’s goals encourages them to remain enthusiastic until the end.

The women set out to break six individual school records this season. They accomplished this by actually breaking seven records. Sybesma said the level of support the team has for each other is really what gives the team it’s strength.

Powell said she’s not only pleased with the team in the water, but out of it, as well.

“We’ve all been working hard, even with some dry-land activities,” Powell said. “I’m personally pleased with breaking a school record, even though someone else broke my time after that.”

Many individual swimmers are focusing on swimming fast enough in dual meets to qualify for the NCAA Championships, Sybesma said.

Although qualifying for the championships is something many swimmers focus on during dual meets, sophomore sprinter Andrea Stevenssaid this can be something positive for all members of the team.

“It’s on a lot of people’s minds,” Stevens said. “It helps a lot, though, because it gets the team faster.”

Colleen Casey
c.m.casey@student.tcu.edu