Oct. 24, 2008
Box Score
by Matias Saari, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
FAIRBANKS, AK — Samantha Zinsli of the Alaska Nanooks smashed the Patty Center pool record by almost five seconds in the 500-yard freestyle on Friday, but it wasn’t quite enough to overcome Erin Dolan of Drury University.
Zinsli, a senior captain, and Dolan, a freshman for the standout program from Springfield, Mo., waged the closest duel of the meet, with Dolan touching first in 5 minutes, 9.47 seconds. Zinsli, of Kennewick, Wash., easily achieved an NCAA Division II provisional B cut, but came in runner-up by .12 seconds.
“I just told myself I wanted to stay with her, even though I had only gone 5:15 so far this year,” Zinsli said. “I was trying to win just because we hadn’t won a race yet, but it was close.”
Zinsli actually led the race briefly at 350 yards, fell behind by .40 seconds after 450 yards and then used a final push to nearly reel in Dolan.
“I was worried I was going to die a little bit like I did in the 1000 earlier, but I didn’t just because it’s a shorter race,” said Zinsli, who also placed second to Dolan in the grueling 1000-yard freestyle about 30 minutes earlier.
While Zinsli swam in the lane to Dolan’s left and thus could see her every time she came up for a breath, the Drury swimmer was less aware of her competition.
“I could kind of see her out of the side of my eye, but I didn’t realize how close it was until the last 100 (yards),” Dolan said.
Dolan seemed to get a slight advantage coming off every turn, but Zinsli would narrow the gap going down the length of the pool. That cycle repeated itself most of the race.
“I think my last turn helped a lot,” Dolan said. “My coach said that my last dolphin kicks off the wall got me a little bit ahead and then I was just holding on.”
Dolan, of Lincoln, Neb., also set a pool record by 8 seconds in the 1000 freestyle and led off the pool record-setting 400 freestyle relay. In all, the Panthers set five pool records and came close in four other events.
Those efforts propelled Drury, which has placed in the top three at the NCAA D-II championships for 14 straight years, to a 152-53 dual meet victory.
Alaska coach Scott Lemley wasn’t complaining, however.
“This is what we need,” he said. “We need to bring really good swimmers up so we can step up and be challenged.”
Alaska’s best swimmers did raise their level, although none could pull out a victory. In addition to Zinsli, runner-up performances came from freshman Courtney Nichols in the 200 IM (by just .27 seconds), Abbey Jackson in the 100 butterfly and Mar Brunet in the 100 backstroke. Zinsli and Nichols also spurred the 400 freestyle relay team to a lead at the midway point before it finished third.
While Zinsli understands the value of good competition, she has mixed emotions about inviting teams of superior quality to town.
“I like to bring up faster teams, (but) then you look at the score and it’s kind of like ‘Wow,” she said. “So I guess people have to be here to see how close it really is.”
The teams will meet again at 12:30 p.m. today, with rematches between Zinsli and Dolan in the 1,650 and 500 freestyles highlighting the competition.
