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!!