Tracy Shessler

Past Entries

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November 17, 2003

I could be wrong but I thought I was living in Hotlanta. You could've fooled me because the beginning of last week was freezing!

Well, at least that's what it felt like. Then again, 50-degree temperatures feel like freezing to everyone down here. Us Northerners seem to have lost our thick skin while the Southerners, well they're just plain cold.

The strangest part? It got up to 70 degrees by the end of the week. How's a body supposed to get used to the weather here?

Speaking of changes in the weather, it's flu shot time. All through November flu shots are offered at different venues throughout campus. Wednesday brought the flu shot to the varsity training room.

I have never seen so many tough kids nervous in all my life (me included). Those needles are long and those shots HURT! Most people were still feeling it at Thursday afternoon practice. But that's the price for a healthier team come finals and winter training time.

Last weekend brought back an annual meeting between University of Georgia and Emory. After a bus ride that took a lot longer than it should have, we arrived at the UGA pool at 5:30 pm for the 6 o'clock meet. It was the shortest warm-up I've ever had.

Yet aside from the bus ride and short warm-up, this meet is always exciting for us. We get to swim in one of the fastest pools in the nation against some of the fastest swimmers in the nation and the world.

It is humbling to be beaten so thoroughly after an undefeated season so far. Yet it is good for us because swimming with the best only makes us strive to be better.

Bring on the long-course swimming. We haven't swum a long-course practice since that fateful day of the biathlon, erased from so many memories for survival purposes.

Yet we get two weeks in a row of Saturday morning practices. Last Saturday brought on a doozy. We did 40 50s with every other one being fast without flip turns.

And to round the whole thing off, my favorite and yours, a 1,200-meter kick set. Why? Because Emory is gonna end our races on our legs. Bring it on Jon!

Tracy Shessler is a senior from North Andover, Mass. She would love to answer e-mail questions from Emory recruits and fans.