200 Days in the Life of the College

Friday, March 25

A national title, and she’s barely gotten her feet wet

By Leigh Ercole ’11

As a first-year student, Maggie Rosenbaum ’14 has quickly proved to be an indispensable asset to Hamilton’s swimming and diving team. In her first trip to the New England Small College Athletic Conference Championships in February, Maggie set three pool records. And tonight, upon winning the 100-yard backstroke at the NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships at the University of Tennessee, she becomes the first female swimmer from the Hill — and the third-ever Continental woman — to capture a national title. Ever humble, Rosenbaum describes the experience as “pretty cool” and credits her success to her coaches.

Rosenbaum hails from Western Massachusetts, where she has been swimming competitively since age 8. Hamilton is part of her family history, but when the time came to pick a college, her father, Robert ’72, and her sister, Whitney ’10, took a back seat while Rosenbaum made her decision. In the end, “Hamilton had the right vibe,” she says.

At the national championships, Rosenbaum not only breaks her own school record in the 100 back with her winning time of 54.79 seconds, but also swims the 200 back, participates in the 800 freestyle relay and becomes Hamilton’s first swimming All-America since Brittany Achin ’05.

Rosenbaum says she has never been on a team like Hamilton’s, where everyone hangs out all the time and wants to be with one another. She feeds off the spirit of her teammates, just as they feed off her new energies, all dancing together to Willow Smith’s “Whip My Hair” before marching out to the blocks. With three more years to go on the Hill, her career is on a starting block of its own.

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