Young team makes push to conference championship

The SJU swim and dive team is gearing up for conference, having won many meets.

Looking back at the previous meets, the team feels confident in their abilities to perform well at conference.

“The season so far has been excellent. Our record against MIAC opponents is currently six wins and one loss, so we are proving that we are a dominant team in the conference. All of my teammates have improved significantly over the season, resulting in us dropping lots of time,” junior Beau Brinkman said.

Senior Steven Frohle expands on how times have improved this season and his aspirations for the team’s future.

“This season has been exceptional for many reasons. This is easily our largest and fastest group. We have a lot of amazing new swimmers, plus one new diver as of spring semester,” Frohle said.

The returners are credited for their stamina carried over from last year’s shortened season.

“It’s going to be exciting to see how much of an impact we’ll be able to make at the upcoming MIACs. We’ve grown so much as a team over this past year, and they’ll continue to do so long after I graduate,” Frohle said.

Team bonding has been a crucial part to the swim and dive team’s success this season, according to junior Sean Fisher.

“This diving season for me has been magical. I have bonded with the dive team so much, and I truly feel like it is a diving family,” Fisher said.

The team’s support, hard work, determination and practice has gotten them where they are now.

The swimmers and divers each have a different approach to succeeding in their respective events.

“We are starting to taper for our conference meet, which is basically letting our bodies get more rest from slightly easier practices, eating healthier, having a consistent sleep schedule and visualizing ourselves swimming our best,” senior Spencer Atkinson said.

For the divers, each individual is working tirelessly to pull through for the team at conferences.

“For conference, each of us are putting together a set of dives that will showcase our talents and also make us feel accomplished for what we did as divers this season,” Fisher said.

With this year being different than last year, as COVID has proved less of a barrier, the team reflects on how this year compares.

“We were able to compete at about every meet we had scheduled, which was many more than last year. I think this will be the best conference meet we will have compared to the years I have been swimming here,” Atkinson said.

Brinkman echoed Atkinson and elaborated on how this season adds to making the team stronger.

“This season our team has been much stronger and [more] competitive than previous years. Through strong coaching and hard work, the sophomores, juniors and seniors have all improved significantly from the past few seasons,” Brinkman said.

The first-year class elevated the team’s performance this year.

“We’ve become much faster and have been able to compete against DI and DII schools like Nebraska Omaha and St Cloud State,” Brinkman said.

Their next meet is Feb. 4 in Minneapolis, where the team will fight to keep their record standing strong.