Collegiate swimming and diving is not unlike the Olympics, where athletes train for a long period of time in order to compete at a high level for glory during a critical few seconds or minutes.
Working through several dual meets and invitational competitions against several other teams, collegiate swimmers learn early to “swim tired” through the year to be ready for the league championships, in order to post times that will qualify them for the NCAA Championships.
“Some kids don’t handle it well,” says Bob Goldberg, head coach for both the Huskies men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams. “Some schools put huge priority on dual meets during the year, and typically those schools don’t do well at the end of the year. You can’t go to the well too many times.”
Both Husky teams primarily compete during the same events throughout the year. The teams opened the 2010-2011 season by sweeping the Husky Invitational on Oct. 23, taking first place in men’s and women’s competition over Providence College, Central Connecticut State, Fordham University, and Fairfield University. They followed up their success on Oct. 30 in a series of dual Big East meets at Rutgers, where the men topped Georgetown and Villanova, and the women won two of three meets, defeating Georgetown and Rutgers but losing to Villanova.
The Terrapin Cup at Maryland and the Bucknell Invitational are the other group meets for the season, along with dual meets against Army, Penn, Seton Hall, Bucknell, and Yale. The men also have an individual meet with Harvard at Wolff-Zackin Natatorium in Storrs. The Big East Championships will be held Feb. 11-19 at Louisville, to determine qualifying for the NCAA Championships, which will be in Annapolis March 11-12 for zone diving and March 24-26 in Minneapolis for swimming.
Goldberg says both the men’s and women’s teams look to maintain the consistency they showed last year, while taking advantage of the experience both young squads gained.
“We do have a small senior class of three on each team, but they’re experienced and important to us,” he said. “The bulk of our swimmers are sophomores and juniors. So we’ve got a lot of experience. We’ve got a couple of nice freshmen on both sides.”
The women’s team will be led by seniors Kate Baust, a co-captain who specializes in the breaststroke; Sophie Staskiewicz, a co-captain sprinter and mid-distance swimmer; and Jessica Hovancik, a seasoned diver who has recovered from a late-season injury last year.
The Huskies also will look to junior Caitlin Gallagher to continue her improved efforts in the breaststroke and individual medley events, and to sophomore Jordan Bowen, a freestyle specialist who Goldberg says has improved since her rookie season, when she had a career best 4:49 in her 500-yard freestyle.
“Caitlin has the opportunity in the breaststroke to win the conference and go to NCAA. She’s done all the work. It’s her time,” he said. “Jordan is just an outstanding distance swimmer. She has the potential to go faster.”
The women divers had success last season, led by sophomore Nicole Borriello, who was a consolation finalist at the Big East meet and qualified for the NCAA Zone meet in her first year; sophomore Danielle Cecco; who also made the NCAA Zone meet, and junior Kelly McCauley, who was a Big East consolation finalist.
Goldberg is particularly enthusiastic about the men’s squad this season, citing the progress of his young swimmers between their first and second year, a time he says when “a lot of good things happen.”
“I’m pretty excited about the men’s team this year. If we stay healthy, the men’s team may be the best team we’ve ever had,” says Goldberg, who begins his 23rd season as the Huskies coach.
The men are led by senior All-Big East backstroker Alex Davidson, who holds the Huskies’ 100-yard and 200-yard records in the event; senior Tomasz Sobeck, a record-holder in the breaststroke; and senior Tim Krompinger, a backstroke and freestyle specialist who leads by example with his hard work.
Goldberg is especially enthusiastic about sophomore Kyungsoo Yoon, a sophomore sprinter in the freestyle and breaststroke who, he says, has the potential to reach the NCAA Championships.
Sophomores Karim Zayd, a freestyle and butterfly swimmer, and Jeremy Ramshaw, a backstroke and freestyle specialist, along with versatile Sean Cook and Joe Glowacki, will be counted on to contribute as well.
In diving, sophomores Grant Fecteau and Anthony Cortright, junior Brad Schott, and senior Adam Genuario will look to add points to the team’s overall efforts at meets.
“Diving is an integral part of sport,” Goldberg says. “It figures in the score like the butterfly or backstroke figures. We can win or lose a meet based on doing good or not well in diving. It’s an integral part of what we do.”
Goldberg adds that he is pleased that both swimming and diving teams continue to excel in the classroom as student-athletes, as recognized last season when the women’s team was honored by the College Swimming Coaches Association of America as a Scholar All-American team. To gain such recognition, a team must have a minimum 3.0 grade point average on a 4.0 scale. The Huskies posted a 3.4, which Goldberg says is the highest GPA the team has scored in recent history.
The men’s and women’s 2010-2011schedules are on the Athletics website.
