By Melissa Wallace '11

The College of New Jersey women's swimming and diving team had the perfect end to its 9-0 dual meet season and NJAC championship win by capping it off with the teams' fourth consecutive Metropolitan (MET) Conference Championship title this past weekend. The Lions bested the second place winner of the 19 team field by over 500 points. The men's swimming and diving team notched its fifth consecutive MET title topping the field of 18.

After their success at METs this past weekend, both Lions' teams will send qualifiers to the 2011 NCAA Division III Championships held in Knoxville, Tennessee on March 23. A year ago, the men's team placed 6th at the NCAA championships while the women's team placed 9th overall.

Included in that group of NCAA qualifiers are junior standout Laura Pierce (Cherry Hill, NJ/Cherry Hill West) and sophomore sensation Danica Roskos (Pennington, NJ/Hopewell Valley).

Pierce was named 2011 MET Swimmer of the Meet after an outstanding overall performance. She won the 50 and 100-yard freestyle events setting both meet records and TCNJ school records. The record-setting swims were also NCAA automatic qualifying times, which means Pierce will compete at the national championships. She also won the 100-yard butterfly, setting another meet record and establishing a third NCAA automatic qualifying time. Pierce was just tenths of a second off of breaking 2008 NCAA champion, Ava Kiss' team record.

Q & A with Laura Pierce:

Q: What were your expectations going into METs? Did you exceed these expectations?

Pierce: My main expectations for METS were to better my times from last year, help get the relays I was on to Nationals, and get the A cut in the 100 fly. I met these expectations and exceeded them by getting the A cuts in the 50 free and 100 free as well.

Q. What was your overall reaction to your success this past weekend?

Pierce: I put a lot of time and effort into training this season so I was really happy to see it all pay off. My overall reaction would have to be a sense of accomplishment. It feels good to know that I went best times in my individuals and was part of 4 relays that are going to be invited to NCAAs.

Q. How are you going about preparing for NCAAs?

Pierce: I plan to train really hard these next two or three weeks until taper. With NCAAs being a week later this year, we will have the opportunity to get up in yards and intensity. It's going to be hard, but from experience I know it will all be worth it.

Q. What do you hope to accomplish at NCAAs this season?

Pierce: We have a really strong group of girls going to NCAAs this year so I'm excited to see what we can accomplish. I hope to make it back top 8 for my three individual and four relay events, as well as improve our ranking from last year.

Roskos also had an outstanding meet, as she shattered both the MET conference records and TCNJ program records in the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events. Roskos has garnered numerous NJAC Diver of the Week awards and has consistently played a large role in the success of the program this season. Her performance at METs was good enough to earn her a trip to the national championship in March alongside Pierce.

Q & A with Danica Roskos:

Q: What was your overall reaction to your success at METS this past weekend?

Roskos: I was happy with my performance because I was consistent throughout the whole meet and I was able to remain focused throughout the entire competition. I was also really proud of all my teammates. We worked really hard to be prepared for such a long weekend and it paid off for all of us.

Q: How did you go about preparing for METS?

Roskos: My coach, Candace Gottlieb, did an excellent job in preparing the whole team for this meet. We worked on focusing on each dive and not the overall outcome of the event. Candace has really helped improve my consistency and my confidence in my diving.

Q: Nationals are only a few weeks away. How are you going about preparing for the meet? Is there anything different in your training?

Roskos: Since we have a month to train for nationals we are going back to basics and working on our hurdles. We will train pretty much the same way we trained for METs.

Q: What are your expectations going into nationals?

Roskos: I don't have any expectations going into nationals I only want to dive my best. I also want to see my teammates succeed.

Head coach Jennifer Harnett received MET Coach of the Year honors for the fourth straight year and Lions' diving coach Candace Gottlieb was cited as the MET Diving Coach of the Year. Earlier this year, Harnett and head men's coach Brian Bishop earned the TCNJ Coach of the Year award for the 2009-2010 season for their success with the swimming programs. Bishop also garnered MET Coach of the Year honors this past weekend. He has high hopes for the men's team as they prepare for the national championship.

Q & A with Brian Bishop and Jennifer Harnett:

Q: What do you hope your boys to accomplish at NCAAs?

Bishop: Our goal is to finish in the top 10 again this year.

Q: What are they doing now in order to prepare them for nationals?

Bishop: Basically, we are working on maintaining our fitness level and perfecting our racing style and strategy for NCAA's. Our focus will be on fine tuning our races from METS.

Q: What was your overall reaction to this season? How do you think the team has changed from the past?

Harnett: Just looking at our successes on paper it's been an amazing year and one of the best in the program's history, but I haven't had time to process everything yet since we still have NCAA's to focus on. I know there are things we struggled with and I know we can improve for next year.

"As for how the team as changed, we have always had fun, hard working and goal minded student-athletes on the team that love what their sport and the team. Where I see the difference in the 10 years I've been here is that the focus has changed to the team winning instead of a few star athletes winning for the team. That attitude has helped with training and creating that excitement to go to NCAA's which is why we have so many more going in the past couple of years."

Q: What was it like winning the Coach of the Year Award for TCNJ?

Harnett: It is always an honor to be recognized by your peers, but it really reflects the team and everything they have done this year.

Q: What do you hope the girls to accomplish heading into NCAAs?

Harnett: I just want them to have their fastest meet ever. I feel they are ready and can swim faster than they did at METS. If we can place higher than we did last year that would be amazing but the level of competition is so intense there you never can predict what will happen.

Q: How are you going about preparing the girls for NCAAs?

Harnett: We are still practicing in the morning everyday and building them back up so we can taper well again. I think the biggest challenge is to regroup and create a new team dynamic since we are down to 11 athletes going. Everyone always brings something to the team at practice and the atmosphere changes when half the team is not there.