Spring Break
SWIMMING: Eder posts career bests at NCAA Championships
by Melissa Siegel
Senior writer
Sports | 3/24/09
Posted online at 12:37 AM EST on 3/24/09
After a long day trying to secure housing for next year, Brandeis rookie swimmer Marc Eder '12 came back to his room at 1 a.m. last Tuesday hoping to get some rest before leaving for the NCAA Division III Men's Swimming and Diving Championships at the University of Minnesota in a few hours. When he came back to his room, he was happily surprised to find a goodie bag full of Diet Dr. Pepper and chocolate, courtesy of his teammates Ellen Abramowitz '11 and Dana Simms '11, waiting for him on his pillow.
This and other similar gestures helped him feel the support of his team as he made the solo trip to NCAAs, the first Brandeis men's swimmer to do so since Matt Christian '05 in 2005.
"[Abramowitz and Simms] went to the effort to go find my room and leave [the goodie bag] on my pillow, and it was really sweet of them," Eder said. "The constant stream of communication from the team while I was [at NCAAs] was great. It made me feel like they were following, they were watching. It made me feel good."
The support helped Eder set career-best times in two of his three events, the 200-yard individual medley and the 100-yard breaststroke.
Eder finished the 200-yard individual medley in 1 minute, 58.46 seconds, the third-best time in school history and 47th best at the meet out of 49 competitors. In the 100-yard breaststroke, Eder beat Christian's school record with a time of 57.41 seconds, which tied him for 26th out of 42 competitors. He also improved upon his previous career-best time, 58.79 seconds.
In the 200-yard breaststroke, in which he was ranked 20th in the nation coming in, he placed 27th out of 36 with a time of 2:05.74. Coach Jim Zotz thought Eder's nerves may have played a factor.
"I think he just got nervous. I think he had really high expectations for himself, and I think he just put a lot of pressure on himself to do well," Zotz said.
Eder believed that he was hurt by not being aggressive enough in the first 100 yards of the race.
This and other similar gestures helped him feel the support of his team as he made the solo trip to NCAAs, the first Brandeis men's swimmer to do so since Matt Christian '05 in 2005.
"[Abramowitz and Simms] went to the effort to go find my room and leave [the goodie bag] on my pillow, and it was really sweet of them," Eder said. "The constant stream of communication from the team while I was [at NCAAs] was great. It made me feel like they were following, they were watching. It made me feel good."
The support helped Eder set career-best times in two of his three events, the 200-yard individual medley and the 100-yard breaststroke.
Eder finished the 200-yard individual medley in 1 minute, 58.46 seconds, the third-best time in school history and 47th best at the meet out of 49 competitors. In the 100-yard breaststroke, Eder beat Christian's school record with a time of 57.41 seconds, which tied him for 26th out of 42 competitors. He also improved upon his previous career-best time, 58.79 seconds.
In the 200-yard breaststroke, in which he was ranked 20th in the nation coming in, he placed 27th out of 36 with a time of 2:05.74. Coach Jim Zotz thought Eder's nerves may have played a factor.
"I think he just got nervous. I think he had really high expectations for himself, and I think he just put a lot of pressure on himself to do well," Zotz said.
Eder believed that he was hurt by not being aggressive enough in the first 100 yards of the race.
Be the first to comment on this story