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BY MELINDA PETRE

In print | March 20, 2008

Jennie Lewis ’08 and Anne Miller ’10 competed in the 2008 NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships from March 13-15 at the Corwin Nixon Aquatic Center at Miami (OH) University.

Between Miller’s 2nd and 10th place finishes and Lewis’s 13th place finish, they scored 28 points, bringing home a tie for 30th place for Swarthmore. This is the third-highest placing that the Swarthmore women’s swim team has ever achieved at Nationals.

Swarthmore also finished ahead of all its conference rivals: “It’s very difficult to get into Nationals, and I’m proud of what they did. Both in the season and after conferences, they stayed focused on competing at Nationals, not just going there,” said Coach Sue Davis.

Competition for Miller and Lewis began Friday morning, with the 100-yard butterfly prelims. “Nationals are all about the morning sessions — you have to swim fast to qualify for finals and only then can you get the chance to try it again,” Lewis said.

She began her meet by crushing the school and conference record that she and Miller set at the Centennial Conference Championships earlier this month, completing the race in 57.36 seconds. “I was really impressed with Jennie’s morning swim — she works so hard, she really deserves it [the record] and it was a beautiful swim,” Miller said.

“I am definitely getting a picture of it before I leave Swat as it [the record] won’t be there for long — I’m looking forward to Anne challenging that record next year,” Lewis said.

“Jennie has always complicated things — her sophomore year with an emergency appendectomy, her junior year a broken foot at kid’s night out, but this year she stayed healthy, and it culminated with her lifetime best swims,” Davis said.

In the consolation finals, Miller finished 10th, (57.58) and Lewis finished a close 13th, (57.89), earning both swimmers All-American Honors.

Miller, a sophomore standout, brought home second place in the 200-yard butterfly, the best individual finish for a Swarthmore swimmer in the history of the program (Jill Belding ’99 finished 6th in 1996 and 8th in 1997, and Sky Fulkerson-Tar ’96 finished 7th in 1995 and 6th in 1996).

She earned All-American Honors for the second consecutive year, improving on her fifth place finish in the 200-yard butterfly last year. “When I finished, I thought that I had read the score board wrong, but I looked down to the other end of the pool and saw Jennie screaming and was just in shock. It was so much fun … I was on a natural high for the rest of the night,” gushed Miller.

Her time, an impressively fast 2:02:44, is both a Swarthmore College and Centennial Conference record. “Anne has made tremendous progress — she came in as a 2:16 flyer, and you know the rest,” Davis said. “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, she can win this race.”

Her time places her 9th on the Swarthmore women’s top 10 all-time best 200-fly charts. Alluding to the exclusivity of the list, Davis said “and [Andrew] Frampton ‘08] isn’t even in the top 10.”

Additionally, Lewis finished 20th in the 200-butterfly with a personal best time. “To finish my last event, the 200 fly, with a personal best made for my perfect career ending,” Lewis said.

“What they did was spectacular,” Davis said.

The atmosphere of nationals is completely different from conference meets because the whole team isn’t there. However, there were lots of calls and e-mails of support. “They are both great competitors and the school should be really proud of both of them,” Davis said.

“I couldn’t have wished for a better training partner or guide to this meet than Anne,” Lewis said.

“There was always someone right there with me going through the same nerves, the same excitement … having Jennie there was great,” Miller said.

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