BELLES '06 -'07

With eight swimmers returning and a strong freshman class to complement that experience, Saint Mary's hopes to improve on several personal-best performances from last season to build a successful team.

New coach Ryan Dombkowski takes over a program that was small in numbers all season. Only 12 swimmers competed for Saint Mary's last year, a lack of depth that hurt the team in dual meets, but their individual success offers hope for 2006-07.

Junior Kelly Tighe returns to compete in the short distance and breaststroke events. Last season she posted personal best times in both the 50 and 100 meter yard freestyle events. The Lewis Center, OH native also posted the best time on the team in the 100 breaststroke.

Noreen Sherred will be one of the primary swimmers for the Belles in the distance races. Like many of her teammates last season, the junior posted personal bests in her event while competing in the 500 and 1650 freestyle events. Sherr e od will also be called upon to give a solid effort in the backstroke.

“Both Noreen and Kelly have emerged as some of our best returning swimmers this season,” Dombkowski said. “I will look to them to provide leadership both in and out of the pool.”

Expect Kelly Anderson to be a strong performer in the breaststroke events after posting personal best times last season as a freshman. Two-sport athlete Sarah Budd will join the swim squad to compete in a variety of freestyle events once the soccer season is complete.

Katie Carroll also returns to swim the breastsroke and individual medley races for the Belles. Tracy Kosmala and Amy Wagner will add depth to the freestyle events this year.

The freshman class includes swimmers with Saint Mary's legacies. Quinlan O'Grady's mother swam for the Belles in the 1980s and is in the Saint Mary’s Athletics Hall of Fame. Lindsey Nelis follows in the wake of her sister, Kelly, a 2006 graduate and the school's 200 freestyle record holder. Jennifer Lebeidz's sister, Bridget, is a senior on this year's team and their older sister, Katie, also competed for Saint Mary's.

“ This year is going to be both challenging and rewarding ,” Dombkowski said. “ I would like to see each and every swimmer benefit from being a part of the swim program, achieving their goals both in and out of the water. Hopefully these goals and achievements will include everyone exceeding their personal best times resulting in conference points, team records and even some national qualifying standards.”