Deerfield Tops Girls’ Swimming; Tseng ’16 Breaks School Record
This past Saturday afternoon, Big Red was edged out by Deerfield for a 86-100 loss. Although disappointing on the scoreboard, the home meet held some positives for many members of the team. A record was set, many races were close and the team was unified like never before.
Senior Joyce Tseng set a new six-dive record by several points, in addition to scoring a perfect ten on one of her dives. The old record was a 246.1, and Tseng scored a 249. Her record was especially impressive considering the team is just four weeks into the season. Tseng was able to accomplish the feat with only one year of experience in her pocket, having joined the team as a new upper. She attributed her perfect dive, one and a half forward somersaults in pike, to her teammates’ support.
Tseng said that her teammates and coaches “really motivated [her] through learning new dives and all the nerves,” and that she looks forward to the remainder of the season.
"Even though we lost, I think it was the strongest we’ve been in terms of acting like a team so far this season.”
Many of the races were extremely close. Co-captain and senior Olivia Reed out-touched her competitor by .01 seconds for second place. Preps Liz Williams and Heddy Parker placed first in the 500m free and the 100m free, respectively. Co-captain and senior Stajz Saar placed second in the 100 breaststroke, and the 400m free relays won both first and third.
Lower Sarah Shepley said the team unified at the meet more than they had in the past. “Everyone definitely gave it their best effort and we had some fast swims, so I think that we should all be proud of our performance at the meet,” she said. “Even though we lost, I think it was the strongest we’ve been in terms of acting like a team so far this season.”
Prep Christine Baker agreed and added that “the team spirit and attitude was amazing, and we are starting to mesh as a team.”
Reed agreed that the team has made great progress, but pointed out that there are still things to be worked on. “As a captain, I was very proud of our work this meet. Finally, a lot of our hard work in practice is paying off,” she said before offering a point for improvement. “As a team, we need to improve our flip turns to be fast off the wall.”
Reed continued to say that while she appreciated support from parents, she had hoped to see more students in the stands, particularly at their home meet against Andover on Feb. 20.
On Jan. 27, the girls will face Dana Hall School at home at 4 p.m. While Dana Hall’s record sits at 3-1 and Exeter’s at 2-2, it will surely be anyone’s game.
Lower Maddie Shapiro said that Deerfield is consistently a fierce competitor, but that Exeter pulled together as a team and swam very well. “It’s the middle of the season and we’re all tired, but we gave it 100 percent. The Deerfield meet is always the most exciting meet of the season, and it definitely was very hype today,” she said. “I’m very proud of all our girls.”