Last week, Rowan’s women’s swimming & diving team participated in the Metropolitan Conference Championships (METS), finishing third out of 16 teams. Since none of the women qualified for the NCAA Division III Championships, this concludes their 2021-22 season.

The Profs finished with a 6-0-1 overall record, undefeated in dual meets, and were crowned New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Champions.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better year,” Head Coach Elise Blaschke said. “We were really resilient. Our team had grit. They swam out of their minds and they really gained confidence that might have been lacking as we headed into the season.”

Their grit and determination shined throughout the performance at METS.

The 4×800 freestyle team came in first and set a school record with a time of 7:45.54, while graduate student Veronica Alferez came in second in the 500 freestyle. Junior captain Jordan McChesney followed the same path as Alferez with the 50 free. McChesney explained how she was able to keep up her momentum for this meet. 

“I think our training really just helped us prepare for those types of meets to go back to back races or back to back sessions,” McChesney said. “I think we were so well prepared for it just because of all the intensity of our training this season.”

On the third day of the meet, Alferez collected two more wins in the 200 freestyle and the 400 individual medley, where she recorded her best time of 4:33.98.

For the final day, the 4×400 medley relay team broke their season best with a time of 3:34.89, as they came in fourth place. Freshman Emma Padros came in second in the 1650 free, recording a time of 18:04.10. McChesney finished off the Profs’ success, coming in first in the 100 freestyle.

“It felt really nice,” McChesney said. “When you see all of your hard work produce the results that you want to get.”

The Profs earned a total of 1,096 points in their third place finish. Coming in second place was The College of New Jersey (TCNJ), and first place was Mary Washington College. Coach Blaschke is proud of how her team performed.

“Overall it was exceptional,” Coach Blaschke said “I think everything from their actual swimming performance to the energy that they brought to the pool deck and the way they supported one another was awesome.”

This was also the first METS for all of the freshmen of the team, like Emma Padros, who was recently named NJAC Rookie of the Week. She explains how she felt at her first ever METS.

“I feel really excited for the years to come, because this is just the starting point for me, I have three more years,” Padros said. “It feels really rewarding because I put in all this work this season. And I’m so happy to get this award.” 

With this season now officially done, the Profs are focused on the future.

“There is always a need and room for improvement,” Coach Blaschke said. “After the year of not having any competition heading into this year, it was a big question mark as to where we would be. METS was the perfect indicator of what is necessary to improve on for next season. And what’s even cooler is the desire of the athletes to keep on training in the offseason they already are asking, what they need to personally improve on in order to be prepped for next season.”

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