Recap of Swim Season

By Broadside Staff Writer Ryan Dempsey

The Patriots ended their season with both the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams beating George Washington University, recording 18 event victories.

Mason is seeded first in the women’s 200-yard medley relay. The Lady Patriots are also seeded first in the 400-yard medley relay, which currently holds the CAA top performance record. For women’s individual events, be on the lookout for junior Caitlin Impink, senior Mary Beth Cheslock, freshman Nicole Harmon and freshman sensation Ashley Danner.

Impink, Cheslock, Harmon and Danner represented Mason at the 2008 USA Swimming Short Course National Championships. At the national tournament, Impink swam in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:50.20, breaking her own school record.

Seeded second at the conference tournament, Harmon also looks to capture first in the 100-yard backstroke.

“The highlight of the season for me was winning the 100-yard backstroke at the Patriot invitational meet, not because I won, but because I qualified for Nationals and took a second off of my time.”

When it comes to records, Danner seems to turn just about everything into gold. This season she has been named CAA Female Swimmer of the Week four times, and was named 18-and-under national champion for the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:00.55, setting a new school and conference record. Going into the conference championships, Danner is the top seed for the 200-yard individual medley, 400 yard individual medley, 100-yard breaststroke and 200-yard breaststroke, for all of which she holds a school and CAA record.

“I just take swimming one day at a time and swim as hard as I can,” said Danner.
For the men, freshman Preston Wolter will look to take individual honors in multiple events. Wolter was the only male swimmer representing Mason at Nationals last December. There, he finished 14th in the 1,650-yard freestyle with a time of 15:24.26. Wolter is seeded first in the 500-yard freestyle, 400-yard individual medley and the 1650-yard freestyle.

“The best moment of the season for me was at Nationals, swimming the 1,650, finishing 14th overall and dropping 23 seconds [off of my time] from two weekends before when I dropped 6 seconds that weekend [off of my time],” stated Wolter
In addition, freshman diver Derrick Butts is seeded first in the 3-meter dive.

You can catch all of the action live Feb. 25-28 in the Aquatic and Fitness Center.