The Wake

The University of Minnesota’s synchronized swimming team can be seen practicing on Mondays and Wednesdays in the diving hole of the aquatic center. There are nine girls who all look alike, dressed in very similar bathing suits, wearing matching swim caps and twirling in circles at the same time. It looks like they are practicing for underwater foosball.

The synchronized swimming’s a-team is made up of eight girls, coached by Sarah Nelson and Jessica Kampa. They compete against the other Big Ten schools throughout the spring semester and, at each competition, the team is judged upon two things: its technical merit and artistic impression. These are put on a ten-point scale and the team with the most points brings home a victory. The technical merit judges how synchronized the team looks and the height during the performance. The artistic merit is based on the choreography and performance of the routine. This year, the team is performing its routine to “evil music.” It sounds like a soundtrack from a scary thriller movie. The swimmers can hear the music from an underwater speaker while they perform.

Synchronized swimmers want the general public to understand how difficult of a sport it actually is. They are basically doing what the dance team and cheerleaders do, except, of course, they are treading water the entire time, which makes it much more difficult. The difficulty level is raised even higher during a performance when the swimmers are never allowed to touch the bottom of the pool.

“The sport is much more difficult than it appears,” current swimmer Kelly Hiat said. “It requires lots of stamina and coordination to perform this sport.”

Juliet Zawislak, senior and former high-school state champ from Stillwater, Minnesota, is performing the only solo routine. She is also doing a duet with Maggie Neck, also a former state champ and freshman from St. Louis Park, Minnesota. Together they will swim to the music from the Matrix. For the team competition, Meghan Richardson, Kristin Barbieri, Hiat and Emily Andersen all do very well in figures, they said.

“This team is a lot of fun to be around,” Richardson said. “We are always having a great time together but, at the same time, when we need to, we get down to business and work hard to make each other better.”

There are many people who are not familiar with the sport, so here are a few important terms and ideas that can be tossed around in a conversation about synchronized swimming. “Deck work,” is the pose that the swimmers assume before jumping into the water to start their routine. And, after they jump in, they immediately do a “toss,” where a girl is thrown into the air and another girl behind comes up standing which is called a “lift.” When the girls do a move under water with their feet in the air it’s called a “hybrid.” For meets, the girls must wear sequined suits and stage makeup. They also gel their hair with clear Knox gelatin that becomes hard and waterproof.

The sport of synchronized swimming is gaining audience members across the world and the swimmers hope the interest spreads to the “U.” Come out and support the synchronized swimming team February 15th in the aquatic center at 11:30 a.m. The swimmers’ underwater dance moves will be on display as they compete with other featured teams like Iowa and Nebraska.