Increased funding revives swim team
Posted on January 10, 2008
When JMU cut seven of its varsity men’s teams and three of its women’s teams in 2006, the decision was heavily questioned. Lawsuits and turmoil followed and highlighted a national trend based on Title IX. However, what few considered was the benefits it would have on the varsity teams that remained at JMU.
Throughout the late 1980s and early 2000s the women’s swim and dive team flourished at JMU, winning five CAA championships over that span — the last coming in 2001 — and became recognized as a perennial title-contender in the conference. But the success faded rapidly as scholarships weren’t there. And although the women’s 3-4 record this season may not seem overly successful, it is a considerable stride for a team that has been under-funded and overlooked for the past half-decade.
“In terms of previous records since I’ve been on the team, that [record] is pretty decent for us,” senior captain Grace DeMarrais said. “We had a really good start and we’ve come so far as a team so I think these next three meets will be wins for us and well end up with a good record.”
Because of the Title IX-based decision, swim and dive is being fully funded for the first time this year, giving fourth-year coach Samantha Smith scholarships and a renewed chance at success.
So far, JMU’s freshman class has lived up to that billing.
“As a whole, our freshman class has come in and really worked well as a team,” Smith said.
The Dukes will look to build on the promising season as they host the Virginia Military Institute and CAA-rival Delaware on Saturday at Godwin Hall.
“We don’t swim against VMI very much. They are just going to be some extra bodies in the water for us to compete against. I think the biggest competition we’re going to see is Delaware,” Smith said. “We’ve had a lot of close meets with them in the past. I think that we match up well, so it’s going to be up to us to swim our own meet and work towards our strengths and hopefully get our hands on the wall first in close-race situations.”
In the process, Smith hopes the team can rebound from a disappointing loss to the undefeated Northeastern squad last Saturday.
“We didn’t perform our best on Saturday,” DeMarrais said. “And I think we went into that meet not ready to win. I think we were really capable of beating them, because if you look at the girls we are pretty evenly matched. But they were in it to win it and we were just dragging.”
DeMarrais is optimistic about the team regaining composure this weekend in the tri-meet.
“I think we’re going to win,” DeMarrais said. “Everyone was disappointed from our previous meet, so it gives us a little motivation to do well. We’re training hard, and we’ll be ready.”
JMU is entering its second meet since a six-week layoff, not having raced prior to Saturday since a Nov. 18 invitational at Bucknell. Despite not having any races in December, it was still a grueling month of training and buildup for the heart of the schedule they now face.
Aside from the ability to train harder because no races interrupted its schedule, JMU was also able to travel to Florida for a week of training and team building following finals week.
“December is probably the hardest month for swimming,” DeMarrais said. “Its intensity and volume based. It’s hard to stay motivated because we’re all focused on finals, [but] we walked away from our Florida trip really positively.”
And as the Dukes enter the home stretch of their schedule, this young “bottom heavy” team — as Smith puts it — seems to be preparing to peak at the right time.
“We’re seeing the results of some speed work. Even though our times are good we can still expect a lot more improvement throughout the season,” Smith said.
