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anielle Loiseau ’15 spent a lot of time moving through the water in
her four years with the women’s swim team. The miles of workouts translated into scores
of wins.
So when a large, benign cyst that needed immediate removal came between her and the last
two months of her career, she had two options — she could accept that her career was over or she
could recuperate faster than doctors said she would and get back in the pool.
Her perseverance with getting back into the pool two weeks after the surgery and
going on to earn four all-conference honors at the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC)
Championships was recognized with the MAC’s Giant Steps Award.
“She is one of the hardest working women that I have coached at Lycoming,” said Jerry
Hammaker, Lycoming College’s women’s swim coach. “She is someone that everyone really
likes, so when we found out that she needed surgery, I think it devastated everyone on the team.”
Hammaker tried to ensure that Loiseau didn’t come back too quickly after the surgery,
but the star swimmer was determined to get back into full swing in short order. Six weeks
later, she finished her collegiate career with an inspiring effort at the MAC Championships. She
finished fourth in the 200-yard butterfly with a time that was just three-tenths of a second off the
school record. She also earned all-conference honors in the 100-yard butterfly.
“I didn’t think I would be able to swim at MACs, but I got to a point where I could compete,” Loiseau said.
“I didn’t think I wouldn’t approach my top times. Everything just kept getting better.”
Maybe most appropriately, Loiseau, who was named the 2015 Lycoming College Female Athlete of the Year,
capped Lycoming’s MAC Championships by posting an anchor split of 53.75 seconds in the 400-yard freestyle relay,
a split that would have set the school record in the 100-yard freestyle by nearly six-tenths of a second.
“To watch her swim against some of the best sprinters in the conference and to see her pick up ground on some of
them and then look at her time — that was one of those special moments,” Hammaker said.
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