Amy Lim: Giving the Mt. Holyoke Lyons a Midseason Lift

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Photo Courtesy: Doug Keller

By Cathleen Pruden, Swimming World College Intern

On April 28th, the Mount Holyoke College Athletics Department celebrated the successes of its teams at the 2015 Awards Celebration. At the annual event, two awards are presented to members of the swimming and diving team.

While the selection of senior Rachel Boynton for the Ann C. Cummings Award was not surprising, the choice of first year Amy Lim as Noll Newcomer of the Year was a different story.

This award goes to “a student-athlete who is participating for the first time on the swimming and diving team and has established herself as a significant contributor to the team as demonstrated by her dedication, enthusiasm, hard work, performance, and commitment to the team” and is voted upon by her teammates. The award is given annually to a team member fitting the qualifications, but this year’s recipient was special.

Lim was more than an excited, passionate first year. She was also a spring admit (affectionately known as a Springie) and did not join the team on campus until early January after the team’s annual training trip. While she joined at the point in the season that knocks down even the most mentally tough athletes, Lim was the new energy the team needed.

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Photo Coutesy: Cathleen Pruden

According to Lim, “I would have never been Noll Newcomer without them [her teammates],” yet her teammates believe the second half of the season would not have been as successful without her.

Sophomore Annie Kuenning said Lim “brought a fresh perspective to the team.” What may have become monotonous routine to some was new and exciting to Lim, who appreciated “swimming with people with similar goals.”

“Usually after Florida we are drained, but by having another teammate to incorporate, it reinforced our family atmosphere and allowed us all to work hard to set a standard,” Boynton, a captain, said. “It was like starting the season all over again… As her teammate in the adjacent lane, I knew Amy was looking to me for what to do, so I made sure I did everything to the best of my ability to make sure she knew how to do a drill and work as hard as I could so that she could follow in my example.”

Most first years agree that the transition to college swimming is a daunting one, and entering a campus community and a team half way through the year could be especially difficult. Lim dove right in and seemingly embraced the challenge.

Forty-eight hours after she first set foot on the campus in South Hadley, Massachusetts, Lim embarked with the team on a January meet marathon, swimming four meets in nine days. Kuenning remembers how unique it was to see someone she had met just days before at the end of her lane cheering.

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Photo Courtesy: Cathleen Pruden

For the Springie, the transition was a fairly good one. Lim “wasn’t expecting such sisterhood to last outside the water” and found the power of the Big-Little sister relationship helpful as she found her place at Mount Holyoke. As a captain, Boynton never even worried about how Lim would find her place on the team midway through the year.

Boynton knew her teammates would welcome the new student-athlete, and was impressed by how Lim’s personality, heart, and passion shone through her emails. Once she was on campus, her sense of humor and her work ethic earned her the respect and trust of her teammates, and Lim found her place within the family.

She “bleeds blue and white” according to Boynton, and that Lyon pride was unstoppable.

“My teammates and the team atmosphere of the MHC Lyons is one of the greatest blessings I have ever received,” Lim said.

Her teammates seem to feel similarly about the impact she made this spring, as they rewarded Lim’s efforts with the Noll Newcomer award. This semester’s experiences confirmed that when joining a college swimming and diving family, anything is possible.

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