Breaking a school record in your first year at a new college, in a country thousands of miles away from home is impressive enough, and something most athletes would spend a career chasing.
For Natasha “Tash” De Pree however, she didn’t just burst onto the scene and break one – she shattered ten Fairfield records (seven individual, three relay) in her rookie season.
Her name appears again and again on the newly updated record board by the pool, after one of Fairfield’s most successful seasons ever – and one which saw both the men’s and women’s swimming teams secure MAAC Championships.
But the records seemed relatively immaterial to De Pree – they were just numbers at the end of the day. What truly mattered to her, what brought her the most joy from the season, was the shared love and joy experienced with her team as they pushed each other through thick and thin to secure their ultimate goal of a MAAC title.
Born in Hong Kong, but raised in England to an American mother and an English father, De Pree was put into the pool at a very young age. What started out as a safety measure turned into a part of De Pree’s life that she couldn’t turn away from.
“I’ve never known my life without swimming. Yes, at the start, I didn’t always enjoy it. But even when I arrived at the age where my parents said I could quit, I just couldn’t put all those previous years of hard work to waste’,” De Pree said.
No early wake ups, double-session days or lactate threshold practices could drive her away from the energy and drive that swimming gave her.
De Pree attended one of England’s most prolific sporting schools, Millfield School, where she was training alongside some of England’s best. She described it as a relatively solo experience, though – she was mainly just pushing herself, swimming for individual podium spots, swimming against her past self and past times.
Following her mother who played lacrosse at Yale, and her sister who currently swims for Princeton, De Pree turned her attention to college in America and was recruited to Fairfield, stepping away from the safety of the ‘normal’ university experience in the UK.
Suddenly, she found herself on a roster of 25 other girls, giving her 25 reasons to push herself further.
“I thought she was a great teammate and lanemate, and somebody who just tried to do the best that she actually could for the team, and is growing in that position, and I can see her really developing over these years,” head coach Jack Lichter said regarding De Pree’s rookie season.
Turning up to practice with a smile on her face, De Pree adjusted to the intensity of the Division I standard with ease, and was an immediate contributor to the squad, both in and outside of the pool.
“She’s got fire in her belly and learning how to control that was part of the process with us,” Lichter continued.
De Pree earned herself MAAC Women’s Swimming Rookie of the Week accolades two weeks in a row after Fairfield’s season opener against Bryant and the following week’s meet against Providence College.
Successful meet after successful meet set her and the squad up in a fine manner for the MAAC Championships in Geneva, Ohio. Yet, De Pree admitted, the ideal season – breaking school and meet records, good team chemistry, easily adjusting her life to the American college experience – culminated to this moment, and she wanted to perform for her teammates and coaches as much as herself. Not that she had a point to prove.
“She’s very good at keeping it positive – getting us through all of our hard sets. I love to train with her, and I think we push each other very well,” freshman teammate Riley Edge said. “She’s also very good with the team dynamic, not just with me as her training partner, but with everyone as a whole.”
The meet got underway, and saw the Stags get off to a solid, but not championship-winning start. The women’s title decision went down to the final day, with the Marist Red Foxes holding a marginal lead over the Stags heading into the final race, the 400m freestyle relay.
Months of early mornings, brutal double-session days and relentless training came down to one race – and the four swimmers in that relay knew they had the chance to do something great.
Head Coach Lichter has the words ‘Better than Before’ in large writing in his office across a wall, positioned in a way that is impossible to ignore. By the end of the season, the team, De Pree in particular, had embodied it.
The four swimmers – De Pree, Allie Bashor, Holly Rahurahu and Sofia Smerechniak – swam themselves to second place, securing Fairfield their fifth women’s MAAC championship in program history.
The program – and De Pree herself – had become better than before.
Being able to experience the victory with her best friends and teammates, De Pree struggled to express in words what the MAAC Championship and that winning moment meant to her.
“It was such an electric moment,” De Pree said. “I feel like nothing can explain that feeling of knowing you won. It was genuinely surreal, all of us coming together and being able to celebrate it together.”
De Pree subsequently collected the MAAC Swimming Rookie of the Meet honor, rounding out a stunning first season within the conference. She also earned Women’s Rookie of the Year honors at the Fairfield Athletics Awards, as well as the Jack O’Connell ‘55 Student Athlete Award on behalf of the Meditz College of Arts and Sciences.
These awards all represent the clear foundations that De Pree has laid for what promises to be an exceptional collegiate career.
