Junior swimmer has five of the top ten finishes in the Big East in November
Photo courtesy of goxavier.com | Junior swimmer Emily Conners had an impressive sophomore campaign, and has carried that momentum into her junior year. This season, she has owned at least one individual event win in Xavier’s last six meets.
Following a record-setting sophomore campaign that saw her earn All-Conference honors in seven events and set school records in three events, junior Emily Conners is off to another hot start for Xavier women’s swimming in the fall portion of the team’s 2018-19 season.
Conners, who set school records last year in the 100 and 200m freestyles, has won at least one individual event in Xavier’s last six meets. She is also a part of a relay team that has finished no lower than fourth place in any meet this year.
“I think that relay is pretty fun, especially the 200 medley. We all enjoy swimming together,” Conners said. “We’re really comfortable swimming together, so I think that helps.”
Conners also attributed the addition of freshman breaststroker Lydia Schaeffer for some of the success of the relay team.
This month alone, Conners has five of the top ten swims in the Big East, including the top three overall according to collegeswimming.com. She has been a major factor that has propelled the Musketeers to the No. 2 ranking in the Big East this season.
“This summer, I stayed in Cincinnati and was able to train with my coach one-on-one, so I had a lot of opportunity for improvement over the summer,” Conners said. “The girls team really came in this year. We really hit the ground running. We’ve really been pretty successful this far.”
Conners, a four-time Big East Swimmer of the Week, only swims freestyle.
“I’m just sprint-freestyle, so I only swim the 50, 100, and 200m freestyle. I would say my favorite event is the 100m, and I would say that’s where I’m the most successful too,” Conners said. “People always ask me, ‘do you ever get bored of freestyle,’ but no, I love it. I love to swim freestyle, sprint freestyle, I think it’s a lot of fun to race and I think that’s what keeps me going and what makes me want to do even better.”
Conners will look to continue her record-setting career with Xavier when the women’s swimming travels to Cleveland State for the CSU Magnus Cup meet.
Xavier visited Cleveland on Oct. 27 for a meet against Cleveland State, which ended in a tie.
The Magnus Cup Invitational will feature swimmers from Akron, West Virginia. Duquesne, Cleveland State, Youngstown State, St. Francis (PA), Delaware and others.
“I think that personally, it’s really good competition. We get a lot of fast swimmers from Akron, and so it’s really good to get some racing in against them. As a team, Cleveland State has always been a good match, and we always go into that meet trying to pull out a W against them,” Conners said about this weekend’s meet. “It’ll be hard, but it’ll be fun.”
By: Joe Clark | Staff Writer