Matthew Bauer ‘15 stands behind the starting blocks, awaiting the start of his race. Bauer is about to dive into the pool for the 1650- yard freestyle at the 2015 Liberty League Swimming and Diving Championship. In less than 20 minutes, the senior captain of St. Lawrence’s swim team will learn if the last three months of constant training were worthwhile.
Bauer has been in the pool two hours a day, six days a week since early September. Like the other members of his team, he has swum hundreds of thousands of yards in preparation for this one meet where he will swim only three races. “I had high expectations of myself and everyone I train with,” he said, recognizing the intense work he and his teammates had put into the season to prepare for the race.
A four-year member of the team, Bauer has seen his hard work both pay off and go to waste in his career. He recalled his 2014 performance in the mile, dropping more time than he could have imagined, while also remembering losing a valued relay spot after a poor performance in a preliminary swim. With this experience, Bauer came into the meet confident. “I knew I would have a good meet,” he said. “I’ve always had a ‘be better than last year’ attitude,” Bauer said, determined to swim well.
While the pressure of having only one opportunity to validate a season of hard work may appear intimidating, Bauer is actually lucky. As a mile swimmer, Bauer has almost 20 minutes of racing to work with. For sprint swimmer Cal Arnold, ‘19 races are over in under a minute, and there is no room for error. Though competing at his first championship, Arnold said he was ready. “I was focused on my 100
free… In the rank I was in, I was prepared to hold my own weight,” said Arnold.
The approach swimmers have to championship meets varies. Some, like Arnold, choose not to think about them throughout the season. “I took it day by day,” he said, choosing to wait until the last few weeks of focused training to think about the meet. Bauer took a different approach. “I never have intermediate goals… I am personally always aiming toward the end,” he said.
In 17 minutes and 57 seconds, Matt Bauer swam 1650 yards; 66 lengths of a pool. That put him in ninth place in the Liberty League, recording one of the highest finishes for any Saints swimmer at the meet. After four years of training for meets like this, the performance did not surprise him. Bauer knew he was prepared, and, in his own words, “it was a matter of getting up there and doing it.”