Swimming prepares for final and most important meet

By Taylor Konyk
Elm Staff Writer

This is it. The Washington College Shoremen have one more week to train before they test their strength against the much anticipated Champs.

Champs will be held Feb. 22, 23, and 24 at Franklin and Marshall.

Though they aren’t the only team, WC has participated in an invitation earlier this season where they took third out of seven teams. This will prove helpful for Champs, because the young guns will have already experienced a super-meet.

Captain Robert Mix commented on his team’s development leading up to championship meet.

“The team has progressed leaps and bounds since the beginning of the season. Guys have been putting up fast times ever since coming back from our team training trip in Florida and are excited to put up even better times at champs,” he said.

The mood is similar to earlier in the season, before the Shoremen had a chance to prove themselves.

Now, after each swimmer has had a season to mature, they feel anxious once again. Despite having a .500 season, the men feel they can make a serious splash at Champs.

“I expect a lot of top eight swims from our crop of talented underclassman, who will also make up a lot of our top three caliber relay teams. I also expect nothing less than best times from everyone on the team, as everyone has been swimming fast and looking confident in the pool.”

Captains Mix and Spencer van Cise have been keeping their men focused while Coach Kim Lessard has been maintaining their strength.
“The team has been tapering for the last week and a half or so, which means we’ve been decreasing our yardage in the pool and doing much more faster swimming in order to get our selves ready the grueling six sessions of swimming at Champs,” said Mix.

Once again the small group of veteran swimmers will walk through the gauntlet with their inexperienced freshmen group.

Regardless of this weekend’s results, the good news is this men’s team is more or less in tact after this season. The only casualty of graduation is Captain van Cise. However, most of the swim team veterans will be returning—and all of the swim team freshmen will become veterans.

The stage is set for a battle. WC finally has a team capable of breaking into the upper tier at champs, and expectations are high because of it. The Shoremen have been drawing large crowds ever since their close home opener against Gettysburg.

All season long they’ve competed with teams that have had more talent and more men. Teams like Gettysburg, Dickinson, Swarthmore, and Ursinus had to work for their wins against this year’s WC Shoremen.

Now, at the zero hour, van Cise and Mix prepare to lead their men into one last meet—the big one, the one they’ve been talking about all season long.

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