A Day in the Life.....of Winter Training

This week's A Day in the Life comes from freshman Casey Wolter.  Casey, from DeForest, Wisconsin, swims the middle distance freestyle events for the Aquabears and is known to be the biggest Packer fan in the state of Colorado.



Casey Wolter



It is the first day of winter break and while most students are sleeping in, I am awake by 7:15 a.m. and getting ready to head over to Butler-Hancock for practice. This morning we are lifting, but before we lift we weigh in with our weight coach, Emily. Then it is off to the weight room where we get down to business lifting weights. During a normal week we would just lift in the morning and then swim in the afternoon, but since it is break and we are beginning our midseason taper, we head straight to the pool when we are all finished lifting. We dive in and get right into warmup. After warmup we go straight into the main set, and since we are beginning to taper, we break into our stroke lanes. Today I'm in the distance lane. I love training with the distance girls (D-Squad) because even when the sets are really tough, we always manage to keep each other laughing. After practice, I head over to Kira and Jamie's apartment, where I am staying for the week, and we make chocolate chip pancakes. Kira makes very good pancakes! With my stomach satisfied, we decide to watch Elf. It is weird not having any homework to do, but it is very nice to relax in between practices. During the movie, we all end up falling asleep. When we wake up for our nap, it is time for practice again. When we are done swimming, we all head over to Coach Kelly's house for team dinner. Tonight she made us lasagna and it was delicious. I love team dinners because I love spending time with my team. They are truly the best and they make me realize how lucky I am to apart of such an awesome team.   

A Day in the Life.....

This week's A Day in the Life is from freshman Kellie Burke.  Kellie swims the mid-distance freestlye events for the Bears and is from Carlsbad, California.

Freshman Kellie Burke

       The alarm clock rings and it reads 5:23 on Monday morning. And like every other average college student, this is the time I get up to head to practice. I am the first to rise in my room, and I sluggishly get ready and get dressed. Being from California, or God’s Country, as my roommate Gina likes to call it, I bundle up with sometimes up to three layers to walk outside into the cold. I start my lonesome walk to Butler Hancock while I think about my day ahead. I reach the gym and head off to the scales for our weekly weigh in. Here our weight coach, Emily, greets us with her always sparkling, smiling face. We proceed into the weight room, where we get it down. Now it is off to get breakfast to go, and head back up to the room. I eat my delicious meal while waiting for my other roommates to shower. See, we have a system; Gina showers, then Jasmine, and then me. The clock now reads 7:50 and I feel like I’ve already lived an entire day, but in actuality my day has not even started.

I head off to my first class, Stats 150, which is so exciting and interesting. (If you have not picked up on my sarcasm by now, I am sorry). After Stats, I head to Psychology. Then I get a break to relax in my dorm with my roomie, Gina. Then we both head out at 11:00 to our next class, to only meet up for lunch an hour later. We meet up at Holmes with our other lunch dates, a wrestler and a softball player. These lunches make my day so much better. Then it’s off to Bio with Emily Essig-Peppard, where we struggle to stay awake (just kidding Mom and Dad!).

It is now time to head off to the training room before heading to practice. In the training room, I am greeted by my best friend Kyle, the trainer, and his assistant, Mary. I heat my back, do my exercises, and get a wonderful stretch from Mary. I always feel so much better after leaving that room. It is now 3:00 and it’s time for practice. That’s pretty much self-explanatory, swim, swim, and swim some more. Practice is now over and my bestie, Casey, and I run through the warm shower real quick to only make the dreaded walk down to the ice bath. We always take our time getting ready after practice, and are the last ones to come into the training room for ice; Kyle can always bet on us for this. We get our ice and head off to dinner, the best time of day. We stand in the long lines for one of our following favorite; Mac and Cheese, chicken noodle soup, pasta, or grilled cheese. We enjoy our time together eating dinner with the rest of the team, because we know soon enough we will be headed off to study hall. When we walk up the stairs in Butler Hancock going up to study hall, we can always trust that our buddies Stuart or Lauren will be there waiting to greet us.

The clock now reads 9:00 and I head home after a long, exhausting, average day. I come home to one of the following; both my two roommates Gina and Jasmine either sitting on the couch knitting, or the whole room dark and everyone already sleeping. I seem to always be late to bed and early to rise. But I would not change any of it. Well, I might actually change the amount of homework I have, but I can’t be too greedy. I love my life here at UNC and everyone that is a part of it. I hope this brief explanation of my exciting, average Monday made your own day just a little bit brighter.

A Day in the Life.....

This week's A Day in the Life comes from Gina Cernohous.  Gina is a freshman who grewing up in Kansas and swims the Distance events for the Bears.

Gina Cernohous

So you’re sitting on Facebook at work, in class, in study hall (or all the above) and you start to ponder…I wonder what Gina Cernohous’ life is like every day? Well don’t call me a genie, but here your wishes come true.

1. Wake up – Jasmine (my roommate) and I wake up to her song of choice every morning. It’s usually very  inspirational like Lil’ Wayne or Aaron Carter.
2. Priorities first – I get up and brush my teeth (no one likes stinky breath) while Jasmine uses the lavatory. Then we both change clothes and out the door we go to weights.
3. Morning greetings – I tend to be one of the more happy people at morning practice. I love to greet our wonderful weight coach Emily along with my other teammates.
4. Morning grind – Whether I’m in the pool or lifting racks in the weight room, I’m always giving 110% with a smile on my face.
5. Morning grub – Breakfast time! My personal favorite meal of the day, and the most important! *Notice how I left out getting ready. I am blessed with natural beauty and it doesn’t take much to look good
6. Class time- I go to class all day, every day, every dang day. (Except Saturday & Sunday)
7. Study hall – During the day if I’m not in class, I’m usually in study hall doing homework or on Twitter.
8. Lunch – Another priority in my everyday life…FOOD!
9. Practice makes perfect – I love going to practice every day to see the awesome new friends I have made this year, and to see how far I can push myself every day!
10. Dinner feast – Yes…food again. I like to call my stomach an endless pit.
11. Relaxing with my girls – After dinner, all I ever want to do is go back to my room and kick it with my roomies Kellie and Jasmine by watching Lifetime movies or singing to my i-pod.
12. 8:30 – Well this is when I have to say good-bye because this is when me and Jasmine hit the hay for the night. Got to get my beauty sleep.

I hope this brief summary fulfills your every desire of knowing about my everyday life. I truly love every minute of it, and wouldn’t trade it for anything! I love my team more than I love cats.

A Day in the Life.....

This week's A Day in the Life comes from freshman Jessica Reed-Baum.  Coming from just down the road in Loveland, CO, Jessica swims the Sprint Freestyle events for the Bears and has already been a scoring contributor in both individual and relay events.

Freshman Jessica Reed-Baum

Music? Hannah? Oh no… Alarm- it’s that time again, time to wake up for weight lifting. I spring myself out of my glorious bed and ponder what I am going to rock at weights that morning. Oh of course! The same outfit everyone wears! The fabulous gray UNC Swimming and Diving shirt perfectly paired with the show stopping navy blue Under Armor shorts. I meet up with my astounding roommates-Hannah, Casey, and Melissa-in the living room where I complement them all on their breathtaking stylish outfits and bounce out the door to Butler-Hancock. Once at weight lifting, I joyously greet our strength coach Emily and all my teammates. Seeing all their bright shining faces tickles my heart. Now it’s business time. Pick up weights, put them down, pick them back up again. After a brilliant hour of such activities, it is time for breakfast. Omelet or waffle or bacon? OR how about an omelet inside a waffle all wrapped in bacon?? I couldn’t be more proud of my decision at this point. Omelet-waffle-bacon it is, now time for classes. I meander my way to History where I learn there was a time period without cell phones and Facebook? Get out.  I then gallivant to my favorite class, Psychology. It is here that I learn about my brain and why it isn’t as efficient as Albert Einstein’s. I promise myself that it will be one day. You just wait Mr. Einstein.  After Psychology, I mosey my way to the University Center where I pick up a bagel from Einstein’s Bagels, ironic isn’t it? Once my delicious asiago bagel vanishes below my nose I make my way over to the pool. The anticipation is abundant during this trek-full of excitement and adventure. Walking through the pool doors and seeing everyone’s bright eyed, bushy tails soothes my soul. I can’t wait for tonight’s activities. We all “suit” up and once again-it’s business time. Back and forth, up and down. We get stuff done.  Following business time, is dinner, hamburger, chicken, and pasta? I think yes. Now my favorite part of the day-roommate time. I change into my favorite blue sweater and wind down with no other than KE$HA. If I’m feeling spunky, I strut it up with my bear hat. After all, we are the Bears. This all makes for one stupendous day as a UNC Swimmer. I would never trade it for anything.

Great Start to the Season

The AquaBears have started off the 2011-2012 season with a bang!  Solid performances were turned in the first weekend of October at the Intermountain Shootout in Grand Junction, CO; the returners were at or faster than in-season times from last year while the freshman showed what they are made up in both individual events and relays.  A short two weeks later the Bears dominated Nebraska-Omaha by winning 12 out of 16 events; top performances were turned in by Gina Riggle, Courtney Van Oost and Sarah Moldenhauer.  The Bears have Air Force, Univ. of New Mexico and New Mexico State all within the next week and a half, its going to go by quick and no doubt they will be able to handle it!

Keep checking out both our Facebook Page and UNCBears.com for updates and pictures from the season.

Thanks for your support! GO BEARS!

This week's A Day in the Life of an AquaBear comes from Freshman Jasmine Fryrear. Jasmine, who is from San Diego, CA, gives us a rendition of the Ke$ha Tik Tok song to describe her day as a Bear.



Jasmine Fryrear



Wake up in the morning feeling like a zombie (hey what up moon)

Grab my clothes I’m out the door I’m gonna do this swimming.

Before I leave, rub the sleepy gunk out of my eyes because when I leave for practice there’s no coming back.

I’m talking suits riding up our butts butts, boys chekin out our sweats sweats, food filling up our guts guts

Swim starting , playing our favorite CDs

Outside it’s around 20 degrees

Trying not to be sleepy

Can’t stop, swim a lot

Swim will be the death of me

Today, I’m a fight

Til I get this time right

Tik tok on the clock

But the swimming don’t stop

Owwwowwwowowww

Can’t stop, Swim a lot

Swim will be the death of me

Today, I’m a fight

Til I get this time right

Tik tok on the clock

But the swimming don’t stop

Owwwowwwowowww

Ain’t got a care in the world, but I smell like chlorine

Ain’t got no shirts in my closet, cuz I got all this gear

And now, the fans are lining up cuz they hear we got speed

So we show them how the NC bears will succeed

I’m talking about NC bears getting crunk crunk

Teams tryin to get our spunk spunk

Gonna swim so I don’t sunk sunk

Now, now we swim til our food comes out

Or the team does a breakdown

The team breaksdown

Breakdown, down

Can’t stop, Swim a lot

Swim will be the death of me

Today, I’m a fight

Til I get this time right

Tik tok on the clock

But the swimming don’t stop

Owwwowwwowowww

Can’t stop, Swim a lot

Swim will be the death of me

Today, I’m a fight

Til I get this time right

Tik tok on the clock

But the swimming don’t stop

Owwwowwwowowww

Kelly, you build me up

You break me down

My heart it pounds cuz I can’t breathe

With my arms ripped

You got me now

I got that speed

Yea, I got it

Kelly, you build me up

You break me down

My heart it pounds cuz I can’t breathe

With my arms ripped

The teams arms ripped

The teams arms ripped

Now the swimming don’t start til the Bears walks in

Can’t stop, Swim a lot

Swim will be the death of me

Today, I’m a fight

Til I get this time right

Tik tok on the clock

But the swimming don’t stop

Owwwowwwowowww

In other words, life as a freshman on the UNC swim team is tik tokking! Although zombies and sweats aren’t everyone’s ideal approach to their day, I live for these days. I’ve had two full meals by the time many people have even woken up and I’m also asleep before many people’s classes are over. I wouldn’t be able to do any of this crazy stuff without the support of Ke$ha songs and my team mates. I love the smell of chlorine, banking study hall hours, and devouring the Holmes Dining hall food. The daily life of a freshman UNC swimmer is supported through a loving and goofy family that devotes hours of time to swimming and the team. Now break it down again!

A Day in the Life.....Blue vs. Gold

This week Sophomore Kira Alger talks about the Aquabears' Blue vs. Gold Intersquad meet; from Monument, Colorado, Kira swims Sprint and Mid-Distance Freestyle for the Bears.

Sophomore Kira Alger

 Today feels like any other day. First thing in the morning I wake up at 5:30 a.m. to go pump some iron with the team. Our weight trainer, Emily, pushes us to the limit. If I think I can’t go any lower on squats she tells me to go a little lower. If I think I can’t lift anymore weight she tells me to add five more pounds. It’s hard to believe that I have to swim in a meet later this afternoon. I was a little nervous as to how well I was actually going to do with all this working out we were doing prior to the meet.

            I go back to my apartment and take a quick nap before my first class. I find it a little sad that I am already taking a nap at 7:30 a.m., but I have to prepare myself for the afternoon. I wake up at 8:00 a.m. to start my day with a pleasant walk to my first class with my good friend Kaitlin Sorenson, who also happens to be on the swim team. We talk about anything and everything; it’s nice to talk to someone who is going through the same obstacles of being a student-athlete. I walk quickly from Kepner to Michener Library for my next class, psychology. Even with my long, fast strides I still don’t make it to class on time! I always have to sneak into the back of the classroom so that I don’t distract people from the professor. Today’s lecture is on sleep deprivation and talking about sleep made me sleepy. Next is Anthropology, I sit in the very front so that I can take good notes and pay close attention to the teacher, it’s so interesting!

            It’s almost noon and I have some time to wind down. I eat lunch and relax until 2:30 p.m. Today is the Blue and Gold meet, my first meet since Conference. I wasn’t sure what to expect or know how fast my times would be, but I knew one thing, I had to sprint my heart out. I swam the 50 free, 100 free, and anchored in the 400 free relay. Overall, I went a little faster than I did last year at this same point. I already see improvement and it’s so early in the season! The coach was very happy with me.

            Afterwards we had a team dinner. It was delicious! I loved it. My roommate, Jamie Byrne, and I stayed at the team dinner until the end. Patience is a virtue. When everyone left we stuck around long enough so that we got to bring some of the delicious chicken home with us. We had food for the rest of the month! I figured that was a good way to ended my day.  

A Day in the Life.....Camping!

This week, sophomore Emily Essig-Peppard gives us a glimpse into the AquaBear's annual camping trip in her "A Day in the Life."

Sophomore Emily Essig-Peppard

Tents?  Check. Sleeping pads?  Check. Sleeping bags?  Check. Jersey (Coach Kelly’s dog)? Check. Food, layers of clothes, and more food?  Check, check, and check.

This past weekend the UNC Swim and Dive Team took a trip to Carter Lake for some team bonding out in the wilderness...well, I wouldn’t really call it “wilderness;” we went camping at a campground with "bathrooms" that would make you want to just use the wilderness instead (and be thankful for all those underwater sets).

Once we got there we went straight to work; getting all our tent mates together, putting up the tents quickly and easily(as we are all expert campers, of course), and unpacked the wide array of food from everyone. We then started our ‘oh so famous’ campfire (this is a very important part of our whole trip); after we finally got it raging, everyone settled down in a cozy circle around the fire to start the fun.

 We started off our activities with every girl (and Kevin) reading aloud their list of favorite things, so to speak (which included drinks, foods, restaurants, hobbies, etc.); this way everyone knew that extra something about their teammates and coaches. We then ate our self-provided dinners, where almost everyone cooked over the fire or ate their “gourmet to go” meals from Holmes Dining Hall on campus (which meant each girl eating around eight hot dogs for dinner, and no way of ordering pizza). After we had finished stuffing our faces, we sat back down to follow up on our “Getting to Know You list.” Coach Kelly read off one sheet at a time and would call upon a girl (or Kevin) to see if we could remember the favorite thing of our teammates.  Because we are so attentive to detail and payed very close attention, we were all able to guess the right person every time without much hesitation; as you can tell, we are great at this team bonding thing. Then it was time for each team member to share their life's greatest adversity, and accomplishment; while this may seem easy, trust us, it is not easy by any stretch of the imagination. This activity brings us mostly to tears, with the occasional laugh here or there, but the most important thing about this activity is that it brings us closer together. Once everyone has gone, it was time for us to hug it out and move on to the best part of the night, SMORES! We ended the night on a positive note and then headed to our very luxurious and comfortable tents for a good night’s sleep.

The next morning, we enjoyed our breakfast with the Women’s Basketball team from UNC; we shared laughs by throwing a mini concert full of lip singing and dancing, and even some funny talents we had (like the b-ball girl’s armpit farting). Not only were all of us watching, but some young kids from the next campsite over also enjoyed our treat and were dancing along to our songs playing so quietly (which really means blasting). After watching everyone's astounding talents, we said goodbye to our fellow athletes and gathered for one last meeting on the trip.

For the last time we sat down around the campfire to discuss our team goals. As a team we decide what we want to achieve throughout the season (from breaking records, to Team GPA, and to Life Skills). We also come up with steps on how we are going to achieve these goals as a team. After our “Team Goal Meeting,” we headed our separate ways to pack up the tents and clean up our campsite. Once we were finished, we ended the trip with a short hike to the top of a hill, to sit on top of the rocks and look down on Carter Lake. Here, we took time to reflect on the weekend and the gorgeous view in front of us. Now, we have come back to campus with a new outlook and are greatly looking forward to a great season with a team composed of new girls and returnees, ready to charge ahead and bring many wins to UNC Aquabears!

A Day in the Life........

This week's A Day in the Life is written by Katy Rysemus who is a Sophomore from Tacoma, WA swimming the Fly, Breast and IM events for the AquaBears.


Sophomore Katy Rysemus



5:30am. The dreaded sound of my alarm clock wakes me up for the new day ahead.  Leaving the warmth of my bed is probably the most difficult thing I will have to do all day.  Once I’m up and moving around I find my weight clothes, grab something to eat and am out the door to go pump some iron for an hour. I had not ever really lifted weights before I came here to UNC, but doing so has made a deep impact on my swimming career and I remind myself of this if I ever struggle with a new lift or a greater amount of weight. Knowing that this will make me better turns the pain into purpose.

     After an hour of lifting, I head off to the dining hall for breakfast so I can obtain some sustenance so I will be able to stay awake in my classes. My favorite meal is scrambled eggs, fruit, and a bowl of cereal or if I’m really hungry a Belgian waffle…yum! Once my stomach is happy, I’m off to start my day of classes. I have a break after my first class so I make the trek back to my apartment for a quick nap or I complete any unfinished homework (but naps are preferred). I make something, usually a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a granola bar, for lunch and am out the door once again for the remainder of my classes.

     Once my last class is over I quickly head over to Butler-Hancock for afternoon practice.  After we have done about umpteen million mini-jacks and what seems like hours of jogging in place, we jump in the pool for our daily dose of chlorine. Practice is pretty hard most days, both mentally and physically but being surrounded by your teammates who are going through the pain with you makes it a little easier to accomplish. Words of encouragement can often be heard echoing off of the pool walls and this is part of what makes our swim and dive team not just a team, but a family. We support each other in every endeavor. Once practice is over, it’s time for either an ice bath (brrrrrrrrrr) or ice bags that make us look like deformed creatures, but we wear them proudly.

     Next is dinner and homework. The best dinners are when the entire team takes up a table at the dining hall and everyone can tell who we are because of the overwhelming aroma of chlorine and the loud chatter. After dinner it’s time to hit the books. Since I am an English Secondary-Education major with a History minor, I typically have more reading than anything. Nothing like some Emerson or Thoreau to end the night (an easy put you to sleep)! As the night grows later and later, I can hear my bed softly calling my name, wishing for me to let all my worries go so I can start the next day fresh and happy.

A Day in the Life.....

This week's A Day in the Life comes from Sophomore Jamie Byrne who is from Parker, CO and majoring in Sport and Exercise Science. 

Jamie gives us a glimpse of her everyday life now that classes and practices have started.




Sophomore Jamie Byrne



5:30 AM my alarm goes off.....or not. Five minutes until practices starts and I am running around my room like a chicken with my head cut off, I can’t find my shoes or sports bra. It’s funny how things disappear when you need them most. Good thing we have been trained to work under pressure. Summer is over now and it is time to get back into the swing of things. No more lifeguarding in the warm sun and eating watermelon, instead I transition into having intense practices and protein shakes. Swimming, weights, and school is now the routine.

After weights I go home to eat a quick bowl of cereal before I head to class; unfortunately, my roommate Kira has drank all the milk again so I guess I will go with a bagel. Dang, I miss the dining hall days. My first class is American Sign Language which is one of my favorite classes so far. My teacher doesn’t speak throughout the entire class instead he acts out all the signs and spells them out for us. I sure wish he’ll be on my team if we ever play a game of charades. Next is my Exercise Physiology class. It’s a hard class but it’s nice to be out of the general education courses and into a class that is actually a part of my major. Last for the day is Introduction to Music. Good thing this class is last because this is usually about the time I start to crash. It is impossible to fall asleep while listening to African music and “feeling” for the beats by dancing and stomping.

Time to eat again, alright! I have a little break to relax now before I go to swim practice. Practice is tough. It consists of butterfly and endurance sets in order for us to get back into shape as fast as possible. We can then start focusing on what really matters, our dual meets and conference. I finish off the night with some homework and a sit down dinner with the roommates. It’s nice to be back in Greeley with the team and getting to know all the new freshmen. We are working hard together and staying positive. I can tell we are going to become a stronger team this year!

The Cap is Back!

The Flower Cap has reappeared to help celebrate the birthdays of our athletes!  Practice has started for the 2011-2012 season which is a perfect time to celebrate summer birthdays.  This week both, Sammy Leonard and Alicen Fair, who have birthdays in June were honored at practice.  Happy Birthday girls!

Senior Sammy Leonard is ready to go!



Junior Alicen Fair ready for her swim!



A Day in the Life......Summer

This week's summer version of A Day in the Life of an Aquabear comes from Sophomore Gina Riggle.  Gina lives just north of Greeley in Eaton, CO and gives us some insight to her day which is filled with summer league coaching, teaching swim lessons and practice.

Sophomore Gina Riggle

5:30 AM…. Coffee.  That’s usually the first thing that comes to my mind that early in the morning. The next thing that comes to mind: coaching. After waking up this early, I get ready and drive to morning practice to coach the coolest kids ever. Ages 6 to 18, there is never a dull moment at that pool in the morning. Today, they are learning dives. I know that at the age of 6 years old I never was able to dive, let alone leave the sight of my mom for more than 5 minutes.  After being behind the blocks for the 8 and under practice and showing them how far to jump and how to enter hands first, I’m soaked.  At this point, it’s time to get in the water and teach my level one and level two swim lessons. Getting their hair wet and blowing bubbles (aka, talking to Jeffery the fish that lives in the deep end) is the lesson for today. My day wouldn’t be complete without seeing the swimmers on my team and seeing the kids in my lesson… It makes you realize how much an 8 year old can brighten up your day.

At about noon it’s time to go home. Now I enjoy naps as much as the next person… but I enjoy those two to three hour naps. I don’t get them often in the school year, so I take advantage of the summer snoozing opportunities as much as possible. Once I finally wake up, I head over to my old high school pool to get in a swim workout and a small dry land session.  There are no mini jacks included in this, but there are some squats and planks. After practice, I go home and either make some dinner or devour my mom’s cooking.

After the work, and the naps, and the exercise, it’s time for that summer fun.  Going to concerts is probably one of my favorite summer activities. Tonight is Blues Traveler at Red Rocks, and then later on in the week I’ll head up to the mountains for a Reggae Fest on the Poudre River. This summer has by far, been one of the bests. But, I can’t wait to come back to good old Butler-Hancock, and see all the great girls on the team.  With all the hard work in the pool and the weight room, the Bears will definitely shine this year.   

A Day in the Life....SUMMER!!

As the school year is just around the corner AquaBears will begin to give us glimpses of their summer days back at home.  This week's A Day in the Life comes from incoming Sophomore Christina Gregory of Papillion, NE who gives us a view of her summer day back at home.



Sophomore Christina Gregory



My alarm goes off at 5:30 A.M. every morning, and every morning I wake up in a panic wondering “huh? what’s going on?”.  Oh, time to go to swim practice, that’s right. I am currently training for my sophomore year of college swimming. But today is no ordinary day, it’s Friday, and that means there is a possibility we will play a game in practice today. 

Looking forward to this possibility I drive my butt to the outdoor pool we, Sarpy County Seawolves, practice in during the summer. It rained last night, so there’s probably unwanted foliage and debris in the pool. Great. I usually get some of this stuck in my mouth during warm up. Whatever. 

So I get to practice and look at the work out sheet. Yes. We have a nice sprint set and then we are playing Death Cross. This is my favorite game. Ever. It is played in the diving well, and we are split up into four teams. Each team goes to one of the corners in the diving well, and when our coach yells “Go!” we race to the opposite corner. Who ever is last to their corner is out. Oh yeah, you can grab people from other teams and drag them back to your corner so as to get them out. Naturally, I excel at this game. :D

After practice is over I have just enough time to grab breakfast before I have to go to work. I get to the country club where I lifeguard at and start cleaning the pool and checking the skimmers. And then I find a baby garden snake. He is freaking adorable and I name him Little Todd. I contemplated keeping him. Instead I let him free into the garden. I miss Little Todd. 

Once work is over I hurry over to the gym to meet up with my lifting partner. My sister is my favorite person to lift with. We start out by catching up and gossiping a little, and then we start our work out. We lift heavy things and it is fun.

We finish our lifting and then go home for some dinner. Yum. And then I get ready to go out to get frozen yogurt with some of the girls. Yay!

As the summer is coming to an end I am a little relieved to know that I will be back with my fellow Bears soon. Sophomore year will be an exciting one, I have definitely learned things from this past year that I’ll do differently. Like when we go on bus rides, I will now bring two full water bottles to ensure I don’t go crazy from thirst.  

MPSF All-Academic

Junior Sara Moldenhaur

Six AquaBears were named to the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation All-Academic Team!  Congrats to Hannah Hurd, Tatum Boehnke, Tori Gutt, Alisha Dauman, Hannah Halstrom, and Sara Moldenhauer for their accomplishments in the both the water and classroom!  WAY TO GO BEARS!

Junior Tatum Boehnke

NC Alum Tori Gutt



NC Alum Alisha Dauman



Junior Hannah Hurd

Alisha and Tori both recently graduated from Northern Colorado while Halstrom will be a Senior, and Hurd, Sara and Tatum will be Juniors during the 2011-2012 season.

To be named to the All-Academic Team athletes must be at least a Sophomore academically, competed in 50% of the team's competitions, have a Cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher, and completed a full year at their current university.

Senior Hannah Halstrom

Gutt earns Academic Award

Congrats to NC Aquabear Alum Tori Gutt for earning her 3rd Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-District award!  Tori completed her Bachelor degree in December with a GPA of a 4.0 and worked on her Masters during the Spring Semester while wrapping up a great career with the AquaBears.  In the final meet of her career Tori made her NCAA "B" cut in the 200 Breast, set three individual records and a new 400 Medley Relay record.

Follow this link to read the Offical Press Release on UNCBears.com

AquaBear Alum Tori Gutt

NC Swim Camp 2011

It's time to sign for up the 2011 Northern Colorado Swim Camp!  There are two camp sessions; each lasting Monday through Thursday with an option of staying for the Start and Turn Camp.  This is a great opportunity for swimmers to work on their technique and learn more about swimming!





NC Swimming Alum & NCAA "B" Qualifer Tori Gutt

The first camp session starts Monday June 5; Session 2 starts Monday June 13.

To learn more about the NC Swim Camp click here.  GO BEARS!

NC Swim & Dive Booster Club

Kira Alger

You can now support the AquaBears out of the water by becoming a member of the Northern Colorado Swimming and Diving Booster Club!  As a member of the booster club you will receive regular email updates throughout the year, an invite to our end of the season team banquet and a NC t-shirt. 

Tatum Boehnke

To sign-up and learn more about the Swim and Dive Booster Club click here

A Day in the Life.....Spring Training

While a swimmers' spring training is not quite like that of baseball, it is still an exciting time for the team.  The AquaBears get to focus on things that will help them next season including agility drills and technique work in the pool.

Freshman Kaitlin Sorensen gives us a glimpse of what spring is like for the AquaBears.

Freshman Kaitlin Soresen

Tuesday, April 12th 2011, my eyes are abruptly awaken to my alarm at 6:05 a.m.  To most college students 6:05 is quite an early rise. Possibly only birds and squirrels rise that early. Oh yeah and swimmers.

After my rise at 6:05, I walked with my roommates to practice. This month in April, it is spring training, so our swim practices are only an hour, but for an hour we are able to work on technique in strokes and turns. So basically all the fundamentals of the strokes. So for practice the coaches have been working on all the turns the past 2 weeks. I was able to work on my breaststroke turn. Quite helpful if I do say so myself.

After practice ended at 7:30, I walked over to the dining hall to eat breakfast with the team and can I just say I was quite excited for breakfast this morning because 1) its breakfast and 2) they had bear claws which are basically the best breakfast pastries ever. So naturally I was quite excited for breakfast.

After breakfast I started getting ready for school. I am a Journalism major but right now I'm mostly taking liberal arts classes. So today I had my Sociology of Genders, and Women's Studies classes. My sociology class is one of my favorite classes this semester. My teacher Professor Mark Riddle is so lively and allows the class to be very interactive which makes the class fun. A class to take FOR sure.

After my Sociology class and my Women's Studies, I headed off to lunch and was able to get Gourmet to Go. After lunch I took a much needed nap to catch up on some missed sleep. At 2:50, I walked on over to Butler Hancock for dryland. At dryland on tuesdays, we do sprints and sprint shuffles. Middle Distance runners run 12 minutes and then sprinters lift for an hour.

After dryland, here comes dinner! Next to breakfast, best meal of the day. At dinner today, chicken fried chicken was on the menu and it was yum yum yummy. I paired the chicken with lemonade and a piece of bread. So all in all dinner was delicious.

After dinner I went back to my dorm to work on my homework for the evening. I was able fit in some extra time to watch The Dance Scene, a new show on E!  And then like any other day I called it a night. This is what being a Bear is all about. Best life ever!

Go Bears!

AquaBears Banquet

The AquaBears celebrated their season this past weekend with a banquet attended by over 80 people including representatives from Academic Success, Jimmy Henderson and Michael Kallsen, and our Faculty Representative, Dr. Michael Mills.

Senior Tori Gutt (Scholar Athlete; Swimmer of the Year), Senior Kelly Schmeckpeper-Cook (Diver of the Year), Sophomore Allison Scott (Most Inspirational) and Freshman Renee Stephens (Most Improved) were honored with the four awards which the team votes on.

Also honored were this year's captains who passed the torch to next year's captain Tatum Boehnke, who will be joined by a Team Council selected by Tatum and the Coaching Staff.

The following is a list of the 2010-2011 AquaBears accomplishments:

·        Achieved team Cumulative GPA of 3.08

·        Finished at .500 for dual meet wins

·        Finished 6^th at the MPSF Championships, beating Cal State Bakersfield, who beat us by 70 points last year. 

·        We were 98% for season best performances at MPSF

·        8 new school records, Tori Gutt in the 100, 200 Breast and 400 IM, and Kelly Schmeckpeper-Cook on 1M and 3M, 200 Medley Relay (Sammy Leonard, Amanda Donegan, Gina Riggle, and JJ Smith), 400 Medley Relay (Sammy Leonard, Tori Gutt, Courtney Van Oost, and Gina Riggle), and 200 Free relay (Gina Riggle, Jamie Byrne, Kira Alger, and JJ Smith)

·        33 New All Time Top 10 Athletes

·        49 New All Time Top 10 Performances

·        1 NCAA B Cut (Tori in the 200 Breaststroke) and 2 NCAA Zone E Qualifiers (Kelly and Sara Moldenhauer).

·        Tori will be our first Honorable Mention Scholar All American, which requires a NCAA B cut and a minimum 3.5 GPA.

·        Inducted our first ever hall of fame diver, Sabra Moss who dove here 1993-96.

·        And in recruiting we have committed 16 new athletes, and still waiting 3 decisions.  

Seniors Kelly, Alisha, Alana & Tori

Thank you to all who have supported the AquaBears this season, from near and afar.  We wish this year's graduating class of Tori Gutt, Alana Dauman, Alisha Dauman and Kelly Schmeckpeper-Cook only the best in their future endeavors and look forward to seeing them at Alumni events in the future. 

The AquaBears are looking towards next year............

A Day in the Life.....from a "Fresh" Point of View

This week's A Day in the Life is from Freshman Courtney Van Oost who gives us her take on the season and Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships.  Courtney gives us some insight to her first year as a Division I athlete as every experience is a new one!



Freshman Courtney Van Oost



It is now the beginning of March and I can officially say that I made it through my first year of being a Division I college athlete!! Making it through my first year of swimming I can honestly say that I am very happy with the way it went. Now that the swim season is over, we have three weeks off from swimming. One of those weeks have passed, and it turns out I get pretty bored when every minute of my day is not taken up by swimming!! It is also weird not seeing my teammates and friends every day. I am not sure I like that!!

Although the season is over now, it did take a year of hard work to get to the end of the season. Before my three week break, my team mates and I were busy swimming, doing dry land, and lifting weights everyday of the week for a total of about twenty hours a week over the course of six months. All of that work led up to one week. That week would be conference. This year we were in a brand new conference, it is called the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF for short!) and it took place in Long Beach, California. This was the week that we all looked forward to all year!  At conference this year, I swam the 400 IM, 100 Backstroke, and the 200 Backstroke; I also swam butterfly on the 400 medley relay, and was on the 400 freestyle and 800 freestyle relays as well.

In my events at conference, I got a personal best time in everything. I was very happy with this, because I had personal goals for myself, and I achieved almost every one of them. Plus as a bonus, I scored points for the team and helped us to a sixth place finish overall!! Another plus about conference was that my mom got to come and watch me!! That was the only meet she came to all year long, and I am glad I made her proud by swimming so well!! Conference was so much more fun than I ever would have thought!! My teammates were the ones that made it so much fun though!! Without them I would have been a little bored!

I am a freshman, so this was my first year on this team. I was a little nervous when I first got to school because it was so far away from home, I didn’t know what to expect. I came from a high school that didn’t have a swim team, so I never really had the experience of a close team; coming to UNC, I was really looking forward to that experience. As it turns out, that is exactly what I found. The girls on this team are amazing!! When I realized how nice all the girls on the team were, I was no longer nervous about being so far away from home. We support each other, and we made it through this season of grueling workouts together.  This year was filled with great memories and such fun times. I swam well throughout the season, even surprising myself at times. I am leaving my freshman season very happy with my overall performances. There is not one thing I would change about this season other then swimming better in dual meets. The girls on this team are a big part of what made my freshman year great and memorable!!

Zones 2011

The divers had a great season, finishing strong at the Diving Zone Championships in Minneapolis, MN.  Congrats to Kelly and Sara for a fantastic job on the boards!  Check out the video of Sara having some fun in the Mall of America.  The next contestant for Dancing with the Stars!?!?!

Follow this link for more pictures of our team on our Facebook page  Team Pictures