Women head into season with high expectations, No. 25 rank

The dual meet against Boston College last weekend marked the beginning of a new season for the women's swimming team.

The outcome, a tremendous Tiger victory, seemed to reflect the solidity of past years. Under the leadership of head coach Susan Teeter, who served on the United States Olympic Team coaching staff at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney and was the head manager of the 1996 Olympic Team, Princeton will be looking to build upon an incredible 24-meet winning streak that stretches across nearly three seasons.

The Tigers enter the 2001-02 season ranked No. 25 in the College Swim Coaches Association of America Poll. This is the first time in Teeter's 17 years as coach that the team began the season ranked.

"I'm very excited to finally get respect from the rest of the nation," Teeter said. "We are usually ranked at the end of the season and to be ranked going into the year is tremendous."

The expectations for this year are stepped up a level from the norm. Perhaps one of the main reasons for this is the freshman class, which is one of the best in the nation.

"The freshman class is phenomenal," junior Maura Bolger said. "We have multiple Olympic trial qualifiers, especially in the sprints. They are already scoring tons of points, and making the entire team practice harder and faster."

There are seven first-year swimmers on the team, and six of them compete in freestyle events.

Senior co-captain Jocelyn Petrella acknowledged that last year's captains Kristen Szumera's and Schuyler Holmes's graduation, will be greatly missed.

"It's always tough to lose the graduating seniors, but we had an excellent recruiting year. Our freshman class is extremely talented, especially in the area of sprint freestyle, which is what we really needed."

The freshman class will shoulder a huge portion of the responsibility in this year's fight against Brown. The two teams will most likely battle for the Ivy League title in February. However, the first meet against the Bears will take place Nov. 29th in Providence, R.I.

"We have won the Brown dual meet every year since my freshman year, and we're looking to do the same this year," senior Sandra Kahmolz said.

But Brown is not the only challenge Princeton will face.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

"I don't think we should forget about Harvard, Yale, and up-and-coming Penn. A lot can change in a year, and we've got to be on our toes," junior Christy Holland said.

The first of these challenges will take place this weekend, when the Tigers face Penn and Cornell in Philadelphia. Princeton is likely to come out undefeated, with their dual meet winning streak extended to 26.

However, the most important objective for the Tigers this year is to do well at the NCAA Championships. Sending more individuals to this event, which will take place in March in Austin, Texas, is a primary concern. The team will also attempt to boost its national ranking throughout the season.

In order to achieve these goals, Princeton will have to be strong in all events. With the new fast members, freestyle does not seem to be a problem. Short distance freestyle will be led by junior Molly Seto, sophomore Cara Goeller, and freshman Stephanie Hsiao, who placed in the top spots for 50- and 100-yard competitions. Freshmen Nicole Somers and Courtney Green, seniors Valeria Kukla and Ann-Marie Casperite, and junior Maura Bolger, who placed in the top spots in the 500- and 1000-yard competitions, will lead long-distance freestyle.

Junior Michelle Nielson is one of the primary weapons for backstroke, while Margaret Hirce and Stephanie Wright will take on butterfly. Breastroke will be dominated by Hsiao.

Things look promising for the Tigers. As freshman Nicole Somers said, "the ball is in our court as we are the defending champions — it's our title to lose and we won't give it up without a fight; by the look of our team, I think the trophy will stay on our side."