Photo by John Brady
Last weekend, the Pioneer swimming and diving teams hosted the Grinnell Last Chance Invite, an event that marked the end of the season for most members of the swim team.
“We have a large team, so we are not allowed to have everybody compete at the conference championships, but to have an end of season swim when they’re rested and recovered and ready to race is why we add one meet afterwards,” said head men’s and women’s coach Erin Hurley.
The meet is also important for players competing the NCAA Division III Regional Championships. This year, Daniel Goldstein ’16, Tiffany Nguyen ’16 and Summer White ’18 will represent Grinnell in San Antonio, Texas this weekend, giving them a chance to stay in form.
One of the standouts of the Last Chance Invite was Lucy Gross ’17, who will not swim again this season. In the meet, Gross had big time drops with strong performances in the 500 freestyle, 200 freestyle and the 100 freestyle.
“Lucy Gross had a great meet, I know she was going for it. I know she had a lot of goals and I’m sure she made all of them for her time standards,” Hurley said. “All of the women that swam would have been competitive at the conference championship, it’s just that our team is larger than other teams”.
Kevin Bennett, ’16, described the event as a great way to cap off the season.
“It’s an opportunity for people to either swim races that they didn’t get to at the Conference or races at the end of the year that they want to try and get their best time for,” Bennett said.
With the swim season at its end, Hurley talked about the performance of the team as a whole.
“It was a fantastic season. I think both the men’s and the women’s program really came together throughout the season which starts in October and finished very, very strong,” she said.
Hurley, who was recently named NCAA Division III Coach of the Year for Swimming and Diving, has led a team that has not only excelled athletically but also academically. This week both the men’s and women’s teams were named Division III Scholar All-American Teams. This is an honor given out by the College Swimming Coaches Association of America for teams with a grade point average of 3.0 or higher. Speaking for herself and assistant coach Tim Hammond, she mentioned that there is only so much a coach can control.
“As coaches it’s kind of what we are planning doesn’t always work out that way, so much is dependent on what the swimmers and divers decide to do throughout the year,” Hurley said.
