Cecilia Sahnow has the honor of being named this semester’s first Cyclone of the Week, for her hard work and enthusiasm on the swim team.
Sahnow proved herself this swim season after three impressive victories against Caltech in the 1000 free, 500 free, and as a member of the 200-medley relay.
In Mills’ match against the University of La Verne, Sahnow raced for the first time two events that are new to her: the 100-meter and 200-meter distance.
Head swim coach Neil Virtue said he was impressed by Sahnow’s ability to race in 2 distance events in their meet against Caltech. During a meet, swimmers typically swim one distance event due to the psychological, physical, and emotion impacts it can have on a swimmer.
“To be able to continually be able to do the distance races takes a lot of commitment and dedication,” Virtue said.
Despite the three-week break between semesters, Sahnow has made a point to swim once a week and attend a weeklong practice to maintain fitness.
“I think she has a lot of potential if she makes choices when we are not training in season to help her get stronger and improve her endurance capacity,” Virtue said. “If a student athlete really wants to take it to next level, they need to make a commitment and dedication to do that, and I think she has potential to do that.”
In the team’s first meet coming back from break, Sahnow swam strong in both of her distance events in Los Angeles.
This season Sahnow achieved her goals by breaking her own personal time as well as all time swim records. Her swim time even placed on Mills’ top ten all-time swim records.
“Coming in here [Mills] I just swam, but I didn’t have good technique,” Sahnow said. “The coaches here gave me good advice and helped me with my time.”
Sahnow has demonstrated herself as a team player in and out of the pool. Her ambition to improve her technique and timing is something that Virtue has noticed and appreciated. After being selected as the first Cyclone of the Week, Sahnow felt honored to be recognized for her work on the swim team.
“It was awesome to find out about the award,” said Sahnow. “I found out last night [1/27] from a text from my dad.”
