The Eagles swimming and diving squads are suiting up for another outstanding season. The No.1-ranked women’s team and the No. 3-ranked men’s team are headed to the competition pool this year with confidence and an appetite for success.
“We’re beginning to redefine what’s possible in Division III,” said Head Coach Jon Howell who has led the Eagles to 25 top 10 finishes at the NCAA Division III National Championships. “We continue to push the envelope and see how we can get better both academically and in the pool.”
The Eagles had an excellent 2011-12 season. The women’s team won its third consecutive national title at the NCAA Division III National Championships. The title was the women’s fifth overall, all under the coaching of Howell. The women also won their fourteenth straight conference title at the 2012 University Athletic Association (UAA) Championship meet and finished the season with a dual meet record of 3-6.
The men’s 2011-12 accomplishments were also impressive. The team placed third for the third consecutive year at the NCAA Division III National Championship meet. Like the women, the men also won their fourteenth consecutive UAA Conference title. The season ended with a dual meet record of 2-5.
The athletes have been hard at work to prepare for the upcoming season. The first four weeks of training consisted of daily captain’s practices designed to ease the swimmers back into shape. On Sept. 24, official training began, consisting of at least eight practices a week. Swimmers have practiced every weekday from 3:15 p.m. to 5:45 p.m., as well as additional morning practices two or more times a week.
Practice runs from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Saturdays. Track circuits, dryland exercises, weight lifting and yoga are all incorporated into workouts depending on the day of the week.
The training schedule can become more or less intense based on a swimmer’s specialties and upcoming meets.
“Swimming is one of those rare sports where you never really have an off-season,” Howell said. “It’s a constant process for us.”
With such remarkable results in 2011-12, expectations are high for the Eagles’ 2012-13 season.
Even though this year’s team lost some of last year’s key seniors, including Claire Pavlak (’12) and Patrick Augustyn (’12), Howell insists that the Eagles are stronger than ever.
“One of the hallmarks of our program is that some of our best swimmers every year are upperclassmen,” Howell said. “So it’s always tough for us to lose seniors, but I think the way we tend to balance it every year is with the group of underclassmen who step up and play the role that the seniors played and a group of freshman that add something new to the mix.”
Howell’s main goal for this year is to make positive advances from last season. Though it seems a difficult task to do much better than first and third nationally, Howell insisted that his goal for this and every season is to push his team forward.
“I think for us, what’s important is to move forward as a program and a team,” Howell said. “It’s not just about the swimming for us but also balancing the academics that are at a really high level.”
Balancing academics and athletics can be difficult, but the swimmers manage the stress by relying on the strong support of their teammates.
“We feel like a family, as cliché as that sounds,” men’s co-captain senior Peter O’Brien said. “It helps tremendously when you know 50 others are going through the same thing you are.”
As intense as the training is and as time-consuming as the practice schedule can be, the work will all seem worthwhile come Nationals in March.
“Bringing home those gold medals is more than enough motivation to get us to give our all,” Co-captain senior Ann Wolber said.
With numerous National titles and conference wins already under their belt, the Eagles have plenty of motivation to prepare for a successful season.
“This is a good group,” Howell said. “My expectations are high and I know their expectations are high, so we’ll see how far we can go with it.”
The Eagles’ upcoming meet is the Blue-Gold meet hosted in the Woodruff P.E. Center on Oct. 12 at 4 p.m..
– By Jenna Kingsley
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