CMC75 Moments: Nicoletti Wins National Title for 2002 Women's Swim & Dive
As part of the buildup to the 75th Anniversary celebration for Claremont McKenna College (visit CMC's 75th Anniversary Countdown Page to learn more), we are reliving many of the great moments from CMS athletic department history over the 75-day countdown from April 17 to July 1. If you were a part of this great moment and would like to add to the memories, or if you would like to submit your memories of your own favorite CMS Athletics moments, fill out the form on our main 75th Anniversary page.
Great Moments from 75 Years of Athletics
2002 Women's Swim/Dive:
Nicoletti Becomes Program's First National Champion;
Williams Caps Career With 11 All-America Honors
The CMS Women's Swimming and Diving team had already compiled a long list of All-Americans when the new century began. Suzy Nicoletti, though, broke new ground when she touched the wall first in the 200-yard breaststroke at the 2002 NCAA Division III Championships, becoming the first individual national champion in the program's history. She also added two other All-America finishes, earning second place in the 100 breast and fifth place in the 200 IM.
In addition to winning the first national title for CMS Women's Swimming and Diving, Nicoletti also became the first Claremont McKenna woman to win a national title. The previous Athena national champions in track and field had come from Harvey Mudd and Scripps.
Meanwhile, Lauren Williams capped off her stellar career in the Class of 2002 by winning SCIAC Athlete of the Year honors and picking up three top-15 finishes at the NCAA Championships, raising her total of All-America honors to 11 over her four seasons.
Nicoletti (fourth in 200 IM, sixth in 200 breast, eighth in 100 breast) and Williams (sixth in 400 IM, eighth in 200 free, eighth in 500 free, 10th in 200 fly) still have their names all over the CMS top 10 lists 20 years later.
Lauren Williams:
Upon further reflection, I realized how crazy our season together really was. I had studied abroad in Barcelona during the fall so I didn't get to start training in earnest until my return in January. I did play with a water polo team while in Spain, but nothing to the degree that I would have if I had stayed stateside. No wonder it was a challenging NCAA for me! Obviously, that semester abroad changed my life in important and meaningful ways so it was all worth it in the end, but I don't think I gave myself much mental leeway for what I perceived to be subpar performances. On the bright side, that was the year that Suzy joined us, and what a fantastic addition she was.
My memory of the 2001-2002 season is that it felt less like an end than a new beginning. The team had gone through a few years of coaching changes so Charlie really had his work cut out for him, but he confidently took the helm and it was soon clear that under his leadership our humble group was destined for growth and even greater success in the years to come. He was passionate about the sport and also just as invested in cultivating us as individuals and as a team. I remember when he brought Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi to speak to us about flow - a state that I could recognize in myself during some of my best mile performances. Charlie tended to us in physical training, but also challenged us to allow the sport to be an avenue to personal growth, and I really respected that about him.
The Athenas team that year was composed of some of the kindest women I had the pleasure to know during my years at Claremont, and the Stags weren't so bad either ;) As for the senior class, each of us brought something special to the team. Suzy was a great competitive ally who pushed me to enjoy rivalry and sport more constructively than ever before. She taught me how to do my best for the sake of realizing my own potential, regardless of how others performed. We had little overlap in our strengths so we complimented each other very well - boy was it fun to watch her win! Lili Akin and I were in our fourth year of swimming and playing water polo together at that point, I will always remember her steadfast positivity and how impressively she balanced academics and athletics. Jennifer Casto and Sarah Bauer's team spirit helped to glue us together and Rika Hayashi's antics always put a smile on my face.
Suzy Nicoletti:
The 2002 swim season was the first time in my then 10-year swimming career that I just let myself have fun. I had actually quit swimming my sophomore year at a previous college before transferring to CMC my junior year, and I remember Coach Sutton saying swimming is 'just something we do here, it's not your life.' So I agreed to try swimming again with the aim of meeting good people and having fun. Swimming everyday with Coach Charlie and a really fantastic team brought the energy and joy back to the sport. We worked really hard, but also made sure to have a lot of fun. What is so special about that is that once I rediscovered my love of swimming at CMC, I went on to do ocean swims when I graduated college and lived in Los Angeles. I still do them 20 years later out in Sydney.
I was actually a 100 breaststroker my whole career, and had come in second in the 100 breaststroke in the finals the night before, so I figured that my last hope of taking home an NCAA title for CMC was dashed. The 200 breaststroke fell on the last day of NCAAs and was going to be the very last swim of my career. And I remember telling Coach Charlie I was just going to take it out hard and try to hang on as long as I could since I had nothing to lose. It was such an unexpected shock to win the event! But more importantly, it was a proud moment to bring home a new milestone for CMC.
The other thing about the season that pops into my head is how hard we all tried to prank each other back in those years. The highlight being when two members of the men's team put a goat in the women's locker room. Fair to say they won the prank wars that year, but it still makes me laugh thinking about where they got that poor goat from. I think the other thing I remember is just how memorable that season was for all of us. Thinking to three years later when I was going for my very first job at Google in 2005, the fact that Coach Sutton was one of my references and took the time to do an incredibly extensive interview to help me get into Google was something I'll be forever grateful for.
Another thing that comes to mind is the fact that I used to intern at the Office of Public Affairs which is oddly where I first discovered my passion for marketing which is the field I still work in today.
2001-02 Women's Swimming and Diving Roster
Head Coach: Charles Griffiths
Assistant Coaches: Julie Poremba, Gurgen Militosyan
Lili Akin (Sr., HMC)
Sarah Bauer (Sr., Scripps)
Jessica Briggs (Jr., CMC)
Jennifer Casto (Sr., CMC)
Alisa Decker (Jr., CMC)
Lis-Mariel DuBois (Jr., Scripps)
Lauren Fisher (Jr., CMC)
Julie Fliegler (Jr., Scripps)
Rika Hayashi (Sr., Scripps)
Clare Hudson (Fr., CMC)
Melissa Lam (Jr., CMC)
Suzy Nicoletti (Sr., CMC)
Merisa Piper (Fr., CMC)
Kate Spilseth (Jr., Scripps)
Lauren Williams (Sr., CMC)
Tracy Winters (Jr., Scripps)
Patricia Yoshida (So., CMC)