Women’s Swimming Ends Home Season Strong

The women’s swim team defeated Western State in the last Mines home meet of the year on Saturday, January 13th. The Orediggers won the meet 113.5-68.5, and won all but three of the events. Mines won the first event, the 200-medley relay race, with the help of Abigail Wong.

Wong shared that relays are one of her favorite parts of the sport. “My favorite things to swim are relays,” shared Wong. “There is so much opportunity to push yourself and push your teammates”. Wong also shared that she individually loves the 100 breaststroke, because it is “quick and challenging”.

The season is going well for the Orediggers, as proven by their domination against Western State. Wong explained that success this season can be attributed to a couple things. “Our team this year is stronger and more cohesive than ever. We have depth in all areas, from sprinting to long distance races.”

The team practiced twice a day for most of Spring Break. This will hopefully enable the team to finish in the top three teams in the conference meet, which Wong shared will be “tough but not impossible.”

The Orediggers have always been able to keep up with competitors in the pool, but one area where there coach notice room for improvement was on transitions at walls, and getting off the block. To counter this, the team has been working on a lot on the details of their races, not just the speed. This practice no doubt helped Wong come off the block faster in her best 50 meter free race of the season, where she swam a 24.26.

Wong’s personal training strategy is to “work hard, but enjoy what I am doing”. The dedication and intense practices are definitely tough on the Orediggers, but as Wong implied, it helps to have some fun. It also helps that the team is so close and supportive. “I can always count on my teammates to push me through the tough sets,” confided Wong. “My favorite part of the team is our ability to laugh and keep things lighthearted.”

While the Orediggers have no more home meets this season, the team will be traveling to Lewisville, Texas from Feb. 14-17 to compete in the RMAC Championships!