The women’s swim team is ready to dive into the upcoming 2014 season. With their first meet coming up,the girls have been in extreme training mode since the start of the semester to prepare for the major competition they will face this fall.
This year’s roster consists of 32 women that came to UT from all across the globe. The team, doubled its normal size from previous years due to the huge 2014 freshmen class that came in. Each swimmer has dedicated an immense amount of time to the extensive training schedule they have had so far.
Head Coach Ed Brennan and his staff have the girls up from 6-7 a.m. Monday through Friday, they complete two days training in the pool and three days lifting in the weight room for their morning work outs. They then suit up again to swim two hours in the afternoon on weekdays and three hours on Saturday mornings.
“Preseason, like in most sports, is spent largely on general conditioning and working on basic skills, starts, turns, distance per stroke,” Brennan said. “Training is based on the events they compete in. There are 14 events on the NCAA program. It takes a large staff and I’m very fortunate to have four great coaches on the deck with me every day.”
Senior Briana Murphy goes into depth about preparation for the upcoming season: “The training is personalized for each event. If you are a sprint freestyler, you basically only train the 50, 100 and maybe 200 freestyle. If you are an IMer, you will train mostly the 200 and 400 IM, and maybe another stroke if you have one. This works better than a one-size fits all approach,” Murphy said. “The differentiation and event specialization we practice at UT is different than most other programs. I think it gives us more of an edge on the competition.”
With all the challenging practice these girls endure, the strengths of the girls on the roster this year are extremely diverse. The team is incredibly strong in the sprint group this year, especially the 50 and 100 freestyle. However, they also added three more distance freestylers this year too, which is a huge due to the fact that the distance groups have been relatively small in the past few years.
It’s safe to say that it is a huge commitment to be a part of the swimming program The women’s swim team has raced their way to the top to become Sunshine State Conference (SSC) Champions for three years in a row. A major hope for their upcoming season is maintaining their victories and holding onto their title. “We certainly want to defend our conference championship and get back into the top 10 nationally. Much of that will depend on how our freshman class pans out,” Brennan said.
Not only have these girls thrived in the water these past few years, but they’ve thrived in the classroom as well. Last year the swimmers impressively had the highest student GPA of all athletics at UT along with their well-earned championship title.
When it comes to the swimmers to watch out for, there are a number of girls that opponents won’t want to see in the lane next to them. “This year we have some really good incoming freshmen girls. Sophie Long is a really great all around swimmer, especially in the IM events. Brittany Bayes is another one to watch in the distance freestyle events. We also have quite a few returning swimmers who swam great in the past, especially sophomore Marisa Barton and senior Erin Plachy, they’re both sprint freestylers,” Murphy said.
Freshman environmental science and world affairs major Sophie Long, who joined the Spartan family all the way from England, said her successful teammates have been nothing but welcoming in the pre-season process. “Coming to the United States for college and being welcomed right away by such incredible, friendly girls is a wonderful feeling,” Long said, “We are a family already and I really think the love and support we give each other will guide us through our season no matter what happens. I love them!”
The girls will put their hard work to the test in their first meet against top rival Florida Southern College on October 17.
Regina Gonzalez can be reached at regina.gonzalez2@spartans.ut.edu.