From Wednesday, March 20 to Saturday, March 23 the Hens dove beak-first into the Division III national championship in Greensboro, North Carolina. Flapping their waterlogged wings to shoot back out of the water — this time grasping several metals between their beak — Pomona-Pitzer (P-P) women’s swim used this year’s championship to prove themselves as deserving of their spot as a top ten team in the nation.
During the meet, P-P received seven All American honors both in relays and individual events ranging from the 200-yard to the 1,650-yard and finished seventh overall. Despite failing to make the podium as a team, the Hens made history with their two first place titles in the 200 yard freestyle and 400 yard freestyle relays being their first in 40 years, the last coming during the 1983-84 season.
The national championship meet spanned four days, each with both a 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. session. The mornings were preliminary sessions for the finals in the same events later that same day. Despite the intensity of this structure, Valerie Mello PZ ’25 said the Hens had heavily prepared for this.
“We spent a lot of the year preparing for this sort of competition style and we have double days throughout the week coming in the morning and the afternoon leading up to nationals,” Mello said. “You have to get up at the crack of dawn and try to put out your best performance but I feel like our coaches really helped prepare us for that.”
The first day of competition started with a bang for the Hens as Alex Turvey PO ’24 won her prelim with a time of 22.70 in the 50-yard freestyle. Francesca Coppo PO ’27 and Mello also qualified for the final in the 50 with times of 23.42 and 23.50 respectively. In the evening, Turvey followed up her prelim result with a 22.58 finish that earned her a national second place title in the final.
In the 200-yard medley relay, P-P qualified with a time of 1:43.07 with legs swam by Abbey Liao PZ ’24, Coppo, Turvey and Mello. In the final later that day, they followed this with a 1:42.74 time that earned them an eighth place finish and All American honors.
Liao said that the camaraderie built during practice is the reason for the Hens success.
“There is a lot of friendly competition,” Liao said, commenting on the structure of their practices. “I think that is good because it makes our practices more fun and it brings everyone up around you because it’s easier to work hard together than to just be grinding on your own.”
On Thursday, day two of the competition, Sabrina Wang PO ’26, Turvey, Coppo and Mello swam a 1:32.08 in the 200 freestyle to give them a prelim win. In the women’s 400-yard intermediate prelims, Kathryn Jones PO ’27 and Emmie Appl PO ’25 qualified for the finals with times of 4:25.47 and 4:26.34 respectively. The Hens also made a splash in the 100-yard butterfly prelim, as Turvey’s time of 53.57 won her heat and Abby Smith PO ’24 qualified with a 55.34 time. P-P qualified for the 400 medley relay finals with a time of 3:46.74, led by a team of Gabby Calvi PO ’25, Coppo, Mello and Smith.
Mello commented on the race plan of pushing hard early on in the day. She said the team called it “full send” and emphasized its importance in setting up the evening competitions. She noted an extra bonus that swimmers earn if they finish first in the prelims.
“It really helps when you throw down a good time in the morning especially for relays and when you get a top seed you get to pick a walkout song,” Mello said. “When you are down to the top eight you [warm up] in a little ready room and then you walk out to behind the blocks. When you are in that top spot and you hear your song playing it’s just the most insane confidence boost.”
Thursday saw P-P make history, securing the win in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:31.54. Turvey also came second in the 100 butterfly finals with a time of 53.62.
Smith started Friday’s competition with a bang for P-P, earning a 2:03.09 time and a qualification for finals in the women’s 200 yard butterfly. Later that day the Sagehen team featuring Maren Rusk PO ’27, Katie Gould PO ‘24, Turvey and Mello placed sixth in the final for the 800 yard freestyle relay with a time of 7:24.02.
Gould commented on how the competition was much different this year compared to previous years when it came to the teams that were expected to win.
“I think this year was a super interesting year for all of DIII swimming especially on the women’s side because historically there are two or three teams that are dominant at nationals and this year was kind of the year of smaller teams — teams like us, NYU, MIT, Tufts [and] Williams,” Gould said. “The titans of DIII swimming weren’t quite at their best but it really opens the door for us to have a lot of success this year and in the future.”
The last day of competition started with a second place finish of 49.81 from Turvey in the women’s 100 freestyle prelims while Mello, Wang and Coppo also qualified for the finals with times of 50.58, 51.14 and 51.39, respectively. In the 200 breaststroke prelims Appl qualified for the finals with a time of 2:18.07 and P-P finished first in the 400 yard freestyle relay prelims, taken to victory with a time of 3:22.80 by Wang, Turvey, Gould and Mello.
In the finals, Turvey placed runner up in the 100 freestyle for her fourth all american performance of the meet. Mello also went All American in this event with a fourth place finish and a time of 50.35. In the women’s 400 freestyle relay the Hens won the championship with a time of 3:20.59.
According to Turvey, competing on the east coast is an added challenge for all West Coast teams due to the time change, so the team arrived a day early to be able to adjust. Additionally, the Hens have been waking up early to prepare, hitting the gym during the season and in off season.
“I think something that set us apart this year, honestly the last few years, is that we’ve got a lot more focused and dedicated to the weight room and how much weightlifting can build performance,” Mello said. “What we are doing in the weight room is similar to what we are doing in the pool — we are competing with each other and it’s just really fun to have a group of strong women, especially when the team historically hasn’t had that focus.”
Coming off a successful run at nationals, two of the Hens have big plans outside of P-P after their season ends.
“Franny [Coppo] won’t bring this up, but also there is one sort of unique and exciting thing she is competing in: the Dutch championships this summer,” Turvey said. “I’m [also] going to the Canadian Olympic trials in May.”
However, P-P swim and dive were not the only 5C women represented in Greensboro last week. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women’s swim and dive also competed at nationals, placing 25th overall. The Athenas earned four All-American honors in relay events with Annika Sharma CM ’26, Mackenzie Mayfield CM ’26 and Madeleine Kan HM ’26 swimming in all four races. Sun Young Byun CM ’26 and Annette Chang HM ’27 swam in the two medley relays and two freestyle relays, respectively.
Ending their season on a high note, P-P swim and dive capped off a 7-1 season with their two historic national championship wins and three major SCIAC awards. SCIAC named Turvey women’s swim Athlete of the Year, Bennett Jones PO ’27 Newcomer of the Year and coach JP Gowdy Coach of the Year.
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