Trinity Southwestern Shootout

Trinity Women swimming the 200 free relay.

 This past weekend, the Trinity swim team attended the Tiger Southwest Shootout swim meet in Southlake, TX (Nov 19-20). This was a big meet for us Tigers, because it was our last meet until 2011. Also, the meet was named after Trinity University!

The team left early Friday morning for the five-hour drive to Southlake. On the way, we watched the movie Clue on the bus to help pass time. We arrived around four, ate lunch, and the headed to the Carroll High School natatorium for warm-ups.

The first session of the meet went well for the Tigers. In the first relay of the meet, the 200 freestyle relay, Trinity women placed fifth, while Trinity men placed eleventh. After the successful session, the team ordered Olive Garden and enjoyed it at the hotel. Then the team went to bed early for the next morning session.

Trinity men swimming the 200 medley relay.

The morning session went fabulous as well. In the 200 medley relay, Trinity women placed sixth as well as the Trinity men. After the second session, the team loaded up into the bus and headed off to teammate Andrew Battle’s house for a home cooked meal. They served us delicious brisket and cookies for dessert.

Well fed, the team made their way back to the pool for the final session of the meet. In the 400 freestyle relay, Trinity women placed fourth and Trinity men placed fifth. It was our most successful relays! Once the individual mile swimmers were done, the meet had finally come to a close.

Overall, with relays, individual events, and diving, Trinity women won the meet! And Trinity men took a solid third place. After such a long meet, the team was really pleased with the results and ready to get back to campus. On the ride home, we watched Harry Potter and happily slept all the way back home.

Brew, Lucas, and Andrew warming down after the meet.

The Team Goes To Florida!

The Trinity swim team has been very busy these past few weeks. Last weekend, the team went to Florida for the main traveling trip of the year. It was a great weekend full of swim meets and beaches.

The team left early Thursday morning for Orlando, Florida on a plane. After a nice lunch in the hippie Florida restaurant, the team went to Rollins College to practice in their beautiful outdoor pool.

Rollins College Pool

On Friday, the team prepared for the first of two dual meets of the weekend. That afternoon, we swam against Rollins College and saw a great amount of success! We won the dual meet by placing first in multiple relays and individual events.

Right after the meet concluded, the team grabbed dinner at Chipotle and hopped on the bus to drive to Tampa for our next dual meet.

On Saturday, we woke up bright and early for our meet against the University of Tampa. This team was much faster than Rollins, and after many close races, Tampa came out with the victory. However, everyone was very satisfied with his or her races.

The University of Tampa pool

After the meet, we grabbed lunch and headed for Clearwater Beach on the coast of Tampa. The rest of the day was spent relaxing and having fun in the sun in Florida’s beautiful, white sand beach. After our tough meets, we really earned our fun this weekend!

As the day came to an end, we traveled back to Orlando to head to the airport early the next morning and reunite with the Trinity campus. Overall, this travel trip was memorable and many tight bonds were formed. Team trips are just a part of the swimming program here at Trinity. Having such a tight-knit team is a wonderful thing to be a part of.

The women's team at Clearwater Beach

If you would like to see more pictures of the Florida trip, check out my slide show!
Florida Trip Slide Show

Until next time,

Marisa :)

Lake Travis Open Water National Championships

The Trinity women after the 5K swim. Photo taken by Leta Gatton and used with written permission.

Last Saturday, the swim team took yet another exciting trip! This time we went to Lake Travis in Austin, TX for the National Collegiate Open Water Championships. ‘Open water’ swimming is considered anything outside of a pool including lakes and oceans. For this race, we swam a 5K (or 3.1 miles) in Lake Travis by the Mansfield Dam. Trinity men and women competed in this race as well as Texas A&M women and Rice University women.

Our day started at 5:30 am in the Bell Center pool for a warm-up swim. Then we loaded up on the charter bus to make our way to Lake Travis. Much to our delight, we were served Panera bagels, Taco Cabana breakfast tacos, bananas, and orange juice on the ride over there. After about an hour and a half, we arrived at the lake with happy tummies and a bit of nerves as we anticipated our hour+ race.

Once there, all athletes checked in and had their race number written on our arms for identification. Then right at nine o’clock, we swam out to the starting line (marked by a bright orange buoy) and the air horn sounded and the race began.

The start of the race. Photo taken by Leta Gatton and used with written permission.

Open water swimming is a different experience than regular swimming. While there are orange buoys marking the route, the majority of the race is figuring out which way to go and how to get there more efficiently. When you’re a mile away from the next buoy, it’s hard to see and you have to pick your head up while you swim to make sure you aren’t veering off course. Another difference is not being able to see anything underwater. Lake Travis visibility was about three feet in front of you and it was a bit claustrophobic at first.

About an hour later, the first swimmer finished from Texas A&M. Then about half an hour after that, the last swimming finished their three-mile swim.  The over-all results were Trinity Men in first place, then A&M women were first, Rice women were second, and Trinity women came in third place. Overall, it was a very successful and enjoyable race for the Trinity swim team. Once we were warm and dry, we loaded up on the bus and were treated to Wendy’s for lunch.

Our next adventure will be one of our most exciting trips: the swim team is traveling to Florida to race against Rollins College and Tampa University. We’re even squeezing in a trip to Busch Gardens, so it will make for a good blog post.

Until then, adios!

Marisa

Trinity men accepting their team award. Photo taken by Leta Gatton and used with written permission.

The Guadalupe River, picture courtesy of River Sports Tubes

Annual Team Tubing Trip

This past Saturday, the entire swimming and diving team went on a tubing day trip to the Guadalupe River in New Braunfels. There was about sixty of us including athletes, coaches, and family.

After an early morning practice and breakfast at Mabee, we all piled into a charter bus waiting for us in front of the Bell Center. It was a cloudy day, but everyone was still animatedly excited to get out into the river.

About 45 minutes later, we pull up to the Rockin’ R Tubing rental place and receive a ‘tubing orientation’: basically, the dos and don’ts of tubing and how to have a good time. As soon as that was over, everyone rushed over to the tubes and then into the water.

BURR! We soon found out that the water was freezing! However, since we were aquatic athletes, this didn’t bother us for long and the two-hour float began.

The float was tons of fun and included multiple rope swings, rapids, and water falls. Towards the end, it began to rain. It really didn’t dampen our spirits though (the rain was much warmer than the water!). Then came the final attraction of the float: the tree climb. A couple of us, including me, were brave enough to climb up the tall tree over the water as the rain poured down. Jumping from such a height was a wonderful burst of exhilaration.

After the tree climb, we finally made it to the end of the float and climbed onto the beach where the Rockin’ R buses took us back to our charter bus.

Once everyone was warm and dry, our next stop was Rudy’s BBQ in Gruene, TX. The whole team accumulated one big hungry tab, and then we feasted.

On the ride back, most took naps after this fun but tiring trip. In fact, I took three that day!

This annual tubing trip is just one of the many awesome trips the swim team organizes. It was a good way to bond and to get to know each other better as our training season gets underway.

Next on our agenda will the 5K open water swim in Lake Travis, TX. Til then, adios!

The First Few Weeks At Trinity

Congratulations! You've finally made it to college and even scored a sweet spot on the famous, championship-winning swim team at Trinity University! You are now officially a Tiger.

What does all of this entail? First off, you get tons of free stuff including Trinity swim caps, goggles, practice and meet swim suits, t-shirts, sweatshirts, warm-ups, and an all access pass to the hot tub at the pool after practice.

However, the greatest things you will come away with when you join the Trinity swim team are all the memories, lifelong friendships, unforgettable elated feelings after reaching your highest athletic goals, and dinner buddies to eat with every night at Mabee dining hall. The swim team is a tight-knit group of teammates, friends, and a family away from home.

As a freshman, I love my teammates and look forward to practice everyday. This not only benefits my athletic performance, but also my overall moral and career as a Trinity student.

The first few weeks of college are stressful yet tons of fun. The same goes for swimming. I personally took the summer off from swimming, and jumping back into the water was a shock. Luckily, the swim team starts off with “Captains’ Practices” for the first few weeks of school every year. Part of the reasoning for this is the NCAA rule that coaches cannot be on deck until mid-September. Another reason is to buildup yardage and get back in shape, so when Coach Ryan and Coach Leta do come back, we’re in shape and ready to train hard. Generally, the seniors write and run the practices during this time. This proves to be really helpful for the rookies and veterans of the team.

So that is where us Tigers are today! We’re getting ready for our season to start and I am way excited. The first official event we have as a team is the annual toobing trip to the Guadalupe River on Sept. 18^th.  I plan on taking tons of pictures to post here for all to see. Until then, take care, and come back to see what else the swim team is up to!

-Marisa

(Picture courtesy of the TU Campus Gallery)