On Saturday, Nov. 11, Rowan women’s swim lost its first New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) matchup of the season to the undefeated Salisbury University Sea Gulls. 

Rowan experienced a curveball when they realized that Salisbury’s pool is measured differently than other school pools. Even with the change, coach Brad Green praised his team’s efforts.

“Salisbury’s pool was actually more different than normal just because it’s a short course meters pool versus yards, which changes where the flags are at, you know, being able to spot the walls and have clean turns… I thought they fought the entire meet and I’m really proud of them,” Green said.

Despite the loss, multiple Profs had strong performances and showed great progress.

Ella Pennington picked up where she left off, winning the 100-yard backstroke (1:05.82) for the second meet in a row. In addition to her repeat victory, Pennington earned the top spot in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:20.91 seconds, and in the 100-yard butterfly, recording a time of 58.89 seconds. 

“It felt really good to represent everything we do here and to be able to show up to a meet like that and put the best foot forward for Rowan and my team,” Pennington said.

Sophomore Trisha Lau also had a strong meet, with her first and second wins of the season, with the 200-yard (2:03.19) and 400-yard freestyles (4:43.25). For Lau, the race was a rewarding one.

“It was a big change because we were swimming in meters, so I didn’t have an exact plan like I normally do. I was just kind of going for it and it was nice to see all my teammates cheering for me.” Lau said. “It was really nice to touch the wall and look up at the scoreboard and see that I got first.”

This weekend, the team will participate in their first multi-day meet of the season at the Franklin and Marshall Invitational. 

Green sees this weekend as an opportunity for growth.

“This is our first kind of dress rehearsal for a three-day meet and feeling what it’s like to compete one day, get up the next day, and compete again,” Green said. “Having some mental toughness to be able to get up and still race and still be at your best is important. So this is a great step for that in terms of preparing for February and getting to NJACs.”

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