Beyond expectations

When Jenn Christy graduated from IU last spring, the IU women's swimming team lost their most accomplished swimmer of all-time in terms of awards and records. Christy is the school record holder in the 50-yard freestyle and the 100-yard freestyle and was a ten time All-American during her career as a Hoosier.\nHeading into this year, head coach Dorsey Tierney knew it wouldn't be easy to fill the role in the sprint events left by Christy's departure. But after swimming behind Christy last year and participating with Christy on the IU free relay teams, junior Anne Williams has stepped up for the Hoosiers.\n"Anne has put herself in a real nice position at this point," Tierney said. "I think Anne probably of anyone sticks out in my mind as really raising her level of performance."\nTierney says Williams will have to continue to improve, but that her confidence will help her to keep swimming well.\n"Anne is consistently one of the best workout performers and she has been for the last three years," Tierney said. "She has a nice steady balance now and that is nice to see. We want to build on that and hopefully continue to get a little bit better.\nWilliams holds the third fastest times in school history in both the 50-yard freestyle and the 100-yard freestyle, but she will look to better those times as the Hoosiers head into the spring championship meets. She posted a personal season best time in the 100-yard freestyle against Ohio State last weekend. But most of all, Williams was pleased to break the 52-second mark in a regular season dual meet.\n"I have been trying to break 52 (seconds) for a long time in season," Williams said. "It is a good barrier for me to finally overcome, and I am happy for that."\nSenior teammate Susan Woessner, who races with Williams in the sprint events and on relays, has been impressed with what Williams has done this season.\n"Anne has been phenomenal this year," Woessner said. "She is a constant who we always know will pull through on the relays, she really gets up for relay swims. In training, she is an amazingly hard worker. We are training partners and she always brings her best to the pool and pushes me."\nWilliams, a native of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., where she attended Seaholm High School, was a 1999 Michigan State Champion in the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard freestyle. She was a four time high school All-American and was an All-Big Ten selection and Honorable Mention All-American last year.\nWilliams said she swam in middle school because her friends did it, but that she didn't begin swimming year-round until her junior year of high school. Even with a late start on swimming full-time, Williams drew the attention of schools such as Oakland (Mich.), Arizona State and Michigan State. But Williams selected IU in part due to Tierney.\n"Dorsey (Tierney) was the main reason that I even started looking at IU," Williams said. "I had heard really good things about her when she was an assistant coach at SMU (Southern Methodist University). Some of my swimming friends told me she was the coach at IU and that I should check it out. I came on a recruiting trip here and I liked everything about the campus and the team."\nAfter her collegiate career is over, Williams says she might continue swimming, depending on her development in the next year and a half. Williams says she would like to go to graduate school and study either computers or math if she doesn't remain in swimming. She was an Academic All-Big Ten selection last year and is currently a math education major.