Hello again Alumnae!
As mid-September fast approaches the Wellesley Swimming and Diving coaches has been busy preparing for another great season! We have high hopes for the team and are very excited about our incoming class. This year we lost 4 wonderful seniors but have Savannah Johnson returning for a 5th year as she works towards her teaching certification. Seniors Hilary Gram, Emilie Mitten, and Laura Foley have been elected captains for this year and they, combined with good junior and senior leadership, should do a wonderful job of keeping our ship steady and our women working hard.
The 2008-2009 season was splashed with moments of greatness. Above anything else the coaching staff was incredibly proud of how well our intelligent, independent women came together to truly form a team. The cohesion and camaraderie exhibited by our swimmers was absolutely amazing and we hope to continue the trend with the arrival of the Class of 2013.
Our swimmers outdid themselves at the 2009 Seven Sisters Championship where they outperformed Vassar College to win the Cup. On paper Vassar was the stronger team however Wellesley would not be stopped and the fearless swimming of all our members carried the team to the Championship. Last year marked Wellesley Swimming's 12th consecutive Seven Sisters win, and our 17th in the past 18 seasons.
Finally, we cant have a retrospective on our season without mentioning Kate Sorenson; a freshly anointed Alumni and current grad student at Harvard. To avoid an absurdly long Coach's Corner I will simply list the accolades that Kate earned last season: School Record Holder on 1-Meter and 3-Meter boards, 4x NEWMAC Diver of the Week, NEWMAC Diver of the Year, NEWMAC Woman of the Year, and 2x All-American on 1-Meter and 3-Meter boards. We will miss Kate's presence but wish her the best of luck in the upcoming years.
This year our coaching staff remains the same and includes Head Coach Bonnie Dix, Diving Coach Joe Chirico, and Assistant Coach Chris Card.
Bonnie Dix returns for her 23rd season at Wellesley College and is fresh off a leave spent researching all things swimming. Bonnie spent the summer guest coaching at the University of Tennessee Swim Camp.
Joe Chirico returns for his 5th season at Wellesley after earning the 2009 NEWMAC Diving Coach of the Year award. This summer Joe coached his Boston Area Diving women to their second National Championship.
Chris Card is returning for his second year with the team and is continuing his work as Head Coach of Wellesley Masters Swimming, a program he started last year.
We will be having our annual Alumni meet on October 3rd at 10am over Homecoming weekend. We'd love to see you there and are looking forward to catching up with you! I'm sure our women will have a lot of questions for you and in the past the advice you've given has been wonderful! We coaches and swimmers really enjoy this event so I hope to see a lot of you there.
Thank you so much for your continued support of our program and Wellesley College! We hope to have a very successful year and hope that you find continued success in your own lives.
Go BLUE!