By Pat Mariboe
Senior Writer
The men and women’s swim teams both ended their season on a high note, winning their last meet of the season at McDaniel. The men’s team finished their season with a perfect 10-0 record, improving on their 9-1 record from last season. The women’s team finished the season with a 5-6 record, which is exactly the same record they held last season. Now, both team’s have forgotten all the highs and lows from the regular season and are solely focusing their attention on the upcoming Centennial Conference Championships, which start this Friday, Feb. 19, and continue through Sunday, Feb. 21. The men, who finished second out of seven teams at the Championships last season, have room to improve as they head into this year’s Championships, which will be taking place in Gettysburg, Pa. The women, who finished seven out of eight teams last time out, are also looking to put the past behind them and improve as well.
It’s bound to be heyday for the eight seniors participating in their final CCC’s of their collegiate careers this upcoming weekend. One of those seniors, Ryan Stevens, is looking forward to finishing his last season on a high note.
“After going 9-1 the past two years, we knew this was as good a chance as we’d have to go undefeated and made it our goal right from the beginning, and after beating Gettysburg, the only team that beat us the last two years, we realized we had a pretty great chance at it,” Stevens said. “As the season rolled on, we kept beating teams that were supposed to either beat us or come close to it and now heading into Champs this weekend, we definitely have a target on our back, but we wouldn’t want it any other way.”
For all the teams participating in the Championship’s this weekend, which includes WC, Swarthmore, Gettysburg, Dickinson, Ursinus, Franklin & Marshall, and McDaniel, it’s an opportunity for each team to go into the competition with a positive mindset, having nearly a week of practice to prepare. Although WC has the advantage, Steven’s expresses his desire to remain levelheaded.
“I think we’re a very confident team but we also have to make sure that we stay humble at the same time because anything can happen at champs, it’s a clean slate,” said Stevens. “Everyone will be at their best and coming for us, and trying to spoil that perfect season. We’re going to do everything we can to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
When it comes to looking back on his past four years with the team, Stevens had plenty of time to reflect on the past, but still looks forward to the future that is this weekend.
“I’ve had an amazing last four years and seeing us grow and come together as a team has been awesome,” he said. “It would be the perfect ending to the perfect season if we could win the title of Centennial Conference Champions. Watching Gettysburg win it last year and coming in second and being so close to winning only made us want to win this year even more. It’s been a great season no matter what and an awesome senior year but anything less than a championship title would be a disappointment at this point. Personally, I just want to get best times in my events and help contribute to the team anyway that I can and cheer everybody on as we go for that title. I can’t wait for this weekend.”