The 2016 Senior Perspectives is the 11th in a series of annual collections. Senior captains and representatives of teams at Harvard have been invited to contribute viewpoints based on personal experience from both their senior seasons and full varsity careers at Harvard.
For a complete listing of 2016 Senior Perspectives, click here.
Marlee Ehrlich, Women's Swimming & Diving, Team Co-Captain
Hometown: Cherry Hill, N.J.
Concentration: English
House Affiliation: Winthrop
I swim the mile. The mile consists of 66 laps, or 33x50s. This year the women's swimming and diving team had 33 members. Fitting. The mile is always on the last day of the Ivy League Championship. The mile was my last race, ever. A senior's last game, meet, or in this case race is special. But for me, the mile was special not because it was my race, but because it was my last chance to swim for my teammates. The 32 other girls that fought beside me day in and day out in and out of the pool and on and off the diving boards.
As co-captain of the team this past year, the team's triumphs were truly greater than my own. The satisfaction that I got from watching my teammates' successes (in and out of the pool) was unbelievable. Being at Harvard has taught me a lot, but being on the swim team at Harvard has taught me even more. My team won a championship this year, and I truly believe we won because we believed we could. The hardest thing in the world is to believe in yourself, but when you know that you have 32 other girls (and your coaches and trainers) believing in you, you start to trust in their belief and follow their lead.
During my last mile, I started to hurt. Not just physically, but mentally. The mile is long; long enough to realize this is your last time swimming for Harvard. Long enough to realize this is your last chance to inspire your team, and yourself. I remembered all the times we came together to push through the hurt, physical and mental. I started to think about every single teammate and coach on our team. Each 50 was for one of them. My teammates got me through the most challenging mental swim of my career, and I will never forget that.
When I look at my championship ring and see the year 2016, I know that it means so much more than just a trophy. It reflects a year of leadership, of strength. More importantly, it reflects the culmination of four years on this team. My team believes and trusts in one another, and that is what I will take away from my years on this team: trust and belief in myself and in those that I was lucky enough to call teammates.
