The North Central Men's and Women's swimming teams visited Barbados in December for the Barbados Amateur Swimming Association's Short Meters National Championship. Sophomore Julie Albright and Senior Lauren Gorski earned first and second place in the 200-meter backstroke, while Sophomore Jacob Newsmeier earned first in the 100-meter backstroke. The graduate assistant said the most important lesson was being tolerant of other cultures and driving on the opposite side of the road. The teams trained for two hours each day and had free time for activities like surfing and snorkeling.

1. Men's and Women's Swimming teams discuss their recent trip to Central America
The North Central Men's and Women's teams visited St. Lawrence Barbados in December for the
Barbados Amateur Swimming Association's Short Meters National Championship for the first
time. The teams arrived in Barbados on December 7 and left on the 14th. Sophomore Julie
Albright and Senior Lauren Gorski competed in the 200-meter backstroke in their respective age
group and earned first (2:36:55) and second place (2:43:14). Where on the Men's team,
Sophomore Jacob Newsmeier earned first place in the 100-meter backstroke finishing at just
barely under 1:30. Loreli Patschke, Graduate Assistant of both the Men's and Women's
Swimming and Diving teams, said that if there was just one lesson to take away from the 7-day
trip, it is to be tolerant of people in other countries. "Keep an open mind and be open to different
cultures and how they work," said Patschke. Patschke said that the folks down in Barbados were
extremely courteous and willing to help. She also said that it took the team a while to adjust to the
fact that Barbados is a British Colony and citizens in that country drive on the opposite side of the
road compared to the United States. She mentioned that the swimming and diving team go on an
international trip every four years and in late 2010, the teams went to Costa Rica. Patschke goes
on to mention that the Barbados swim meet met the requirement that the teams attend a training
trip for swimming and diving. The afore mentioned Nesemeier said what he enjoyed the most
about visiting Barbados was that he and many on the team had the chance to go surfing and had
the chance to swim out about 200 meters on a shipwreck and snorkle among others. Nesemeier
went on to say, "I made sure I was hydrated days before practice," He said. Nesemeier said that
while the team was down there, they would wake up a little after 6 in the morning then after eating
breakfast, they would go to a pool and train for about two hours and would be given free time to
partake in activities such as catching some nice looking seashells. He also says that he would go
back to Barbados in the future.