An entire season’s worth of hard work, early morning practices and record-breaking performances comes to an end next weekend when the Albion swim and dive teams travel to the University of Notre Dame to compete in the MIAA championships.
According to Kasey Kaplan, St. Charles, Ill., junior, overall records of 2-3 for the men and 2-5 for the women aren’t indicative of the teams’ growth throughout the season.
“I really enjoy seeing how the team bonded and came together during the season,” Kaplan said.
In addition to their MIAA meets, both the men’s and women’s teams competed in the Washington University Thanksgiving Invitational in St. Louis, Mo., and the Bob Mowerson and Bim Stults Swimming and Diving meets in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
“In Florida, we came back after the long winter break and had to get back in the groove of training,” Kaplan said. “We had two in-pool practices a day and also land training. It was a lot of work, but the trip got us focusing back on the season and preparing for MIAAs.”
Several records were broken throughout the course of this season.
Ryan Gunderson, Grosse Pointe senior, broke records in the 100 meter freestyle and the 50 meter freestyle, while Emily Magyar, Gobles junior, broke a college record on the 3 meter dive with a score of 290.25.
“A lot of the swimmers set personal bests this season,” said Keith Havens, head swim coach. “In swimming, you can only control improving your own time, and I think that’s what all the swimmers have to focus on.”
Magyar believes she can build off of her record-breaking dive heading into MIAAs.
“I feel like I have a good chance to do well at our league championships,” Magyar said. “I’ve learned some harder dives this year and gotten a lot more comfortable on both the 1 and 3 meter boards.”
Mary Ann Egnatuk, assistant head coach, is looking forward to seeing how the team fares at Notre Dame.
“We’ve had some really good practices and faced some tough schools this season,” Egnatuk said. “Some of the swimmers have a real good chance of advancing into nationals.”
Albion’s final meet against arch rival Hope was cancelled due to a power outage at the Dow. The meet will not be rescheduled.
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