Think NCAAs are tough' Try swimming with sharks
March 18, 2009 | Women's Swimming & Diving
When she hits the pool for this weekend's NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships, Christine Zwiegers will be sharing the water with some fierce competition.
Let's just say she's familiar with the idea.
Zwiegers, a senior on the Badger women's swimming team, grew up in Somerset West, South Africa, located just minutes away from Cape Town on the beaches of the Indian Ocean.
Even though Zwiegers grew up in one of the most beautiful tourist locations in South Africa, she never took advantage of its biggest claim to fame'until last August.
After going years without experiencing the fear, anxiety and excitement of shark spotting underwater, Zwiegers decided to share the experience with two of her former teammates, Jackie Vavrek and Hannah McClurg.
Zwiegers will swim the 100-yard butterfly on Friday and possibly will compete for the Badgers in a pair of relays, but he field for the NCAA championships has nothing on a group of hungry great whites.
'I have always wanted to go because I live in one of the most notorious shark places in the world,' Zwiegers said. 'I invited two of my American friends over and obviously they wanted to do some tourist attractions so I thought that would be a good idea.'
Zwiegers sets up the plot and scenery of Cape Town on the day the trio climbed into a cage and took the plunge into the Indian Ocean with some of the most feared animals in the world:
'It started off by just taking us out on the boat, and we had to sit on the top of the boat so that we could see the sharks swimming by and the initial shock wouldn 't be so bad when we got in the water,' Zwiegers said. 'So we got to first see the sharks and see how fast they move and how big they are and then they put four of us in a cage.
'You had a chance to be in the side of the cage, the middle of the cage and you could see the sharks from all different angles. We were actually very lucky because it was a very beautiful day and the water was very clear so we could easily see the sharks. '
Just before the plunge, the reality of what they were about to do was beginning to sink in, especially for former UW swimmer Jackie Vavrek.
'I was scared to death,' said Vavrek, who is now a student assistant coach for the Badgers. 'The instructors give you prep of what you are supposed to do and they make it seem like it's no big deal.
'Just thinking about how close the sharks were going to come to us made me scared. It was my first traveling experience so far away from home so the thought of being in the water with sharks was very frightening.'
Once in the water, the amount of fear that overwhelmed Vavrek's body only escalated.
'It was really frightening because the sharks have really good eyesight and they pretty much stare you straight in the eye,' Vavrek said. 'You can see them glaring at you.
'A couple of them hit the cage and got annoyed at us. They are wild animals and we were in their territory.'
McClurg, Vavrek and Zwiegers got to see seven sharks up close, and none of them failed to live up to the highest caliber of intimidation.
'The smallest shark was 1.8 meters and the largest was over 3 meters,' Vavrek said.
They were even lucky enough to have a biology expert on their boat, so they learned about each type of shark that approached their boat.
'The sharks came one by one,' Vavrek said. 'We learned that they are solitary animals. We learned about great whites and how their bellies are white but they can have a grey white or brown top to them.'
Despite the high level of anxiety they had on the excursion, Vavrek and Zwiegers both thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
'I would definitely do it again,' Zwiegers said. 'I recommend other people to do it, as well.'
Vavrek spent two weeks visiting Zwiegers in South Africa. Zwiegers showed them the ropes of her old stomping grounds. As if cage diving with sharks wasn't enough, there was more excitement to he had on the water.
'We went white-water rafting,' Vavrek said. 'We went with Christine's friends that she grew up with on a two-day camping trip.
'The people had all the food on boats, and we camped outside inside a cave so you are outside and you can see all of the stars. We slept there and woke up the next morning and rafted down the river to where we began on the first day. '
Looking back on the trip, Vavrek says South Africa more than exceeded her expectations.
'It was the best vacation of my life,' she said.
