OSU Swimming Begins Preparation for 2015-16 Season
September 11, 2015 | Women's Swimming
OSUBeavers.com
CORVALLIS, Ore. -- The Oregon State swimming team already works plenty hard. The regular-season daily-double practices and weight workouts are augmented by an off-season lifting and conditioning regimen that also includes plenty of pool time.
Slackers, they're not.
So one of the top goals for the upcoming season is working more efficiently, and parlaying that economy into faster times.
“We are definitely working on the technique part,” senior backstroke specialist Amani Amr said after a recent 7 a.m. practice at the Langton Hall pool, the first of two daily workouts at the historic venue. “We are trying to swim smarter, instead of just swimming harder.
“That is definitely a big part of this year. I am definitely excited and definitely want to improve from last year. My freshman and sophomore years were good and I want to get back to that.”
The Beavers open coach Larry Liebowitz's 13th season at OSU on Sept. 26 with the traditional Orange & Black Intrasquad meet, set for 11 a.m. at the Osborn Aquatic Center. They kick off the regular season at Oct. 3 with an 11 a.m. Pacific-12 Conference Dam Cancer dual against Arizona State at Osborn.
“We have the perfect schedule: A lot of meets where we will be extremely competitive, and against a good percentage of the Pac-12 schools,” said Liebowitz, who has mentored six of OSU's eight All-Americans since coming to Corvallis from USC for the 2003-04 season.
“The Pac-12 is probably the toughest swimming conference in the country and we're trying to make some headway on moving up. We're looking to get a lot better this year.”
OSU placed ninth at the 2015 Pac-12 meet with 286 points, 83 behind eighth-place Washington State. Many of the Beavers posted season- and career-best times.
“We had our fastest relays of the year at Pac-12s, but we didn't have any in the top eight,” Liebowitz said. “This year our goal is to be in the top eight and to take a couple relays to the NCAA Championships.
“We have dedicated Wednesday afternoon practices to relays,” for the first time. “The team all knows that, and is pretty excited.”
OSU's headliner is senior freestyler Sammy Harrison, a 2015 All-American who placed seventh in the 1,650 at NCAAs in a school-record 15:54.61. She also placed 26th in the 500 free and 40th in the 200 free after taking a second (1,650), a fourth (500) and a 15th (200) at the Pac-12 championships.
“Sammy obviously has been our leader for the past three years,” Liebowitz said of the Henderson, Nev., native who holds three school freestyle records (500; 1,000; 1,650) and ranks No. 2 in the 200 and No. 6 in the 100.
The 2014 Pac-12 champion in the 1,650 free, Harrison has a growing supporting cast. Four talented in-state freshmen have joined the 21 returnees.
“Constance Toulemonde and Amani Amr will have great years,” Liebowitz said. “When you look at the depth charts, freshman Megan Lam is our fastest butterflier.
“Brooke Meyer has been the fastest flier in the 200 and I think she will step up. Czsarina Isleta should step up and be really impressive. She has a chance to make her Olympic team” in the breaststroke, as she's eligible to swim for the Philippines.
Six current Beavers rank in OSU's career top-10 lists.
• Harrison is No. 1 in the 500 freestyle (4:39.10), the 1,000 freestyle (9:35.36) and the 1,650 freestyle (15:54.61), and is No. 2 in the 200 freestyle (1:46.70).
• Amr is No. 4 in the 200 backstroke (2:00.09) and No. 6 in the 100 backstroke (55.87).
• Isleta is No. 7 in the 200 breaststroke (2:17.72) and No. 8 in the 100 breaststroke (1:03.71).
• Junior Andrea Young is No. 8 in the 200 breaststroke (2:18.04).
• Junior Claire McLaggan is No. 8 in the 50 freestyle (23.45).
• Sophomore Corrine Shigeta is No. 10 in the 100 breaststroke.
Team-building activities such as a hike, movie night and cooking night should help Lam (Sunset HS) and fellow freshmen Kenzie Settelmeyer (West Albany), Lauren Hunter (North Medford) and Alyssa Bennett (North Bend) bond with the holdovers.
“We all got to know each other” on a long hike to Blue Pool, Amir said. “That activity was to get to know the newcomers, especially because we are trying to incorporate them” into an already-close unit.
“We have a positive attitude. In the middle of the season sometimes we get down on ourselves, we're all tired, we want to go home for Christmas,” Amir said. “A key to this season is having a positive attitude and not letting negative attitudes get in the way of our mindset.”
Liebowitz said stronger institutional support should also help the team improve.
“I'm really excited about our strength coach, Micah Cloward. He will do a phenomenal job,” he said. “Our spring training was the best I've ever seen in the weight room. So I'm looking forward to see what we can do off of that.”
OSU has four home meets this season: The aforementioned Oct. 3 dual against ASU; a Nov. 14 dual with BYU; a Jan.6, 2016, Pac-12 dual against Utah and a Jan. 16 Senior Day triangular with Willamette University and Southwest Oregon Community College.
The season concludes with the Pac-12 Championships, set for Feb. 24-27 at Federal Way, Wash., and the NCAA Championships, hosted by Georgia Tech in Atlanta on March 17-19.
The ASU, Utah and Willamette/SWOCC duals will be held at the Osborn Aquatic Center. The BYU dual will be staged at the Stevens Natatorium at the on-campus Dixon Recreation Center.
“Osborn is more spectator-friendly, and the pool is deeper,” and more conducive to faster times, Liebowitz said. “Times are what it is all about and I want us to get the fastest times possible this year.”
Players Mentioned
