1997-1998 Women's Season Recap

    The 1997-1998 season was a tremendous success for the women representing Trinity of Texas. The year began with an easy dual meet win over Austin College and, with but a single exception, the ladies of Tigerland won every meet along the way before again capturing the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Invitational Championships. Highlighting the dual meet season were wins over Emory University, Colorado College, University of the South (Sewanee), and Institute Technologico Estudiante Superior de Mexico campus Monterrey. The sole loss was to the women of ITESM when the Texans visited Monterrey in January.

     Every team’s end-of-season championship meet is the finale that can create life-long memories, and the 1998 SCAC Invitational was that kind of meet. Trinity again visited arch-rival University of the South on the third weekend in February and again triumphed after three long days of exciting competition. The Texas Tigers nipped Sewanee by a score of 808 to 804, with Rollins College of Florida capturing third with 290 points. The first night saw Trinity take wins in every swimming race contested. The meet’s opening race was the 200 freestyle relay and there Erika Chow, Ashley Weeter, Lynn Lyons, and Sarah Scott snatched the gold with a new meet record. First-year Shannon Clower then surprised Sewanee with a win in the 500 freestyle, setting another meet record (5:16.57), as Sarah Scott and Lisa Marshall both score in the big final. The women’s 200 individual medley was then witness to the third consecutive Trinity meet record of the night, as Sarah Scott hit 2:10.55 to lead teammate Leslie Weeter to a 1-2 finish. Trinity placed 6 swimmers in the top 9 places in the 200 individual medley to demonstrate their all-around prowess in the water. Ashley Weeter proceeded to step up in the 50 freestyle and defend her title there with a close win over Erika Buenz of Rollins, as Lynn Lyons (5th) and Erika Chow (7th) both improved upon their 1997 times and finishes. Despite Trinity’s ability to touch first in every event, Sewanee was able to keep pace by capitalizing on its numbers and demonstrating the value of depth. The 1 meter diving finals allowed them to show their stuff on the boards and they grabbed a total of __ points by finishing ___. That left Trinity to make the final statement of the night by taking yet another win, this time in the 400 medley relay (4:08.13) over host Sewanee (4:09.78).

     Friday night began with a bang for Sewanee, as their 200 medley relay broke the Trinity-held meet record and edged the Texans out of the top spot. Leslie Weeter and Shannon Clower then combined for a 1-3 finish over Sewanee’s sister combo of Elizabeth and Scottie Pate, who finished 2-4. Just when it looked like Trinity was again ready to dominate the night finals, Suski Sokol discovered her goggles didn’t fit as well in her as mouth as over her eyes and was unable to defend her 100 butterfly title, finishing in the runner-up spot to Austin College’s Amy Meschke. Lynn Lyons and Catherine Bordelon went 5-7 to keep Trinity in the point count, while Sewanee placed 4-6-8-11. Senior co-captain Sarah Scott was next on the blocks and delivered another big win for Trinity, setting a 200 freestyle meet record of 1:56.01. Sophomore Sarah Armstrong finished 3rd, edging out K. Tompkins of Sewanee and helping the Tigers continue their dominance of the meet’s medal finishes. Ashley Weeter then won her second meet title (5th in 2 years) with a win in the 100 breaststroke, although Sewanee won the point battle by going 2-3-5-8 in the race. Their big star, Anna Mayfield, followed with a win in the 100 backstroke and Sewanee went 1-3-6 to Trinity’s 4-5-8-9 there. The night concluded with the 800 freestyle relay and the team see-saw battle came to an end for 24 hours as the Trinity Tiger combination of Sarah Armstrong, Chelsea Chapman, Ashley Weeter, and Sarah Scott captured a 9 second win over Sewanee’s entry.

     Saturday afternoon, Sewanee dominated the 3 meter diving with a finish and, despite all of their wins, Trinity was down by approximately 40 points when the Saturday night finals began. Shannon Clower brought the crowd to their feet with an opening-event meet record in the 1650 freestyle (17:43.69), with Lisa Marshall taking 3rd to Sewanee’s 2-5-6-8 finish. Anna Mayfield then became Sewanee’s only double event winner by taking the 200 backstroke over Trinity’s Amy Guest. Sewanee went 4-5-10 overall to Trinity’s 2-6-7-8-12, as Erica Clower, Erika Chow, Shelley Wheeler, and Tara Zoellner all scored important points. The next race was the 100 freestyle and there Erika Buenz or Rollins prevailed, as Ashley Weeter, Sarah Armstrong, and Lynn Lyons of Trinity went 2-3-5 to keep the Tigers in the meet. Sarah Scott then proceeded to do what she has always done at this meet – win and win big. She captured her third race of the weekend and the meet High Point Award by touching first in the 200 breaststroke (2:28.73). Jill Seagrave was a surprise 3rd finisher in the event and her jump in places from the prelim swims proved to be critical to the outcome of the meet. Sewanee finished 2-4-6-7 in the breaststroke to remain in the lead overall. But they did not yet have a lock on the team title. The last individual race of the meet was the 200 butterfly, where Leslie Weeter (2:13.08) and Suski Sokol (2:13.19) both broke Weeter’s 1997 meet record as they finished 1-2 for the second consecutive year. Catherine Bordelon and Amy Guest went 4-8 and Trinity got some critical points on the board. Now the stage was set for an exciting finale. Sewanee went into the last event of the weekend, the 400 freestyle relay, with a 2 point lead over Trinity. Whichever school beat the other was to ultimately be the 1998 SCAC Invitational team champion. Ashley Weeter, Lynn Lyons, Sarah Armstrong, and Sarah Scott of Trinity lined up against Erret Neil, Elizabeth Pate, Loren Carver, and Kalah Tompkins of Sewanee and in short order the Trinity Tigers touched up with a new meet record of 3:40.47 and ultimately, an 804 to 800 point SCAC Invitational victory.

     The Tigers from San Antonio enjoyed a bittersweet win, however, as circumstances conspired to take away some of the thrill of victory. At the conclusion of the evening, Sewanee was declared the winner of the women’s team title and their coach, Max Obermiller, was pronounced the meet “Coach-of-the-Year.” It was a day later, back on the Trinity campus, that the Trinitonian learned that a scoring error had been discovered and, in fact, Trinity had indeed won its second consecutive SCAC Invitational title. That magic moment that comes on the deck when the meet winner is announced had unfortunately come and gone, but all who competed were still able to take great satisfaction in a goal achieved and a job well done.