The 2016-2017 season for both the Oswego State men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams are reaching the midway mark of the season as both teams sit at 3-3.
The men have won their last two meets after dropping three of their first four meets on the season. The women are coming off a loss after winning three consecutive meets following two defeats to start the season.
Head coach Mike Holman is pleased with how both teams have performed to this part of the season and both are sitting right where he expected them to be in the standings.
“In swimming you know what’s going to be the outcome,” Holman said. “We didn’t necessarily have a turnaround, but in swimming you are what you are and you expect the results even before the meet.”
It is very easy to predict the outcome of the meets beforehand because of the times that go along with the swimmers. Holman knew that the first two meets of the season were likely losses for the Lakers.
“We weren’t going to win those meets and we knew that we just wanted to go out and compete,” Holman said.
The main focus for Oswego State early on in the season has been to improve their conditioning and start preparing for the in-conference meets that come up later in the season. Athletes typically are not in the best shape right when the season starts and Holman said that his team can definitely improve on their conditioning.
“We’re always going to start out at a certain spot in the beginning of the season where we’re certainly not in the best shape,” Holman said. “We’re just getting started and our goal is to get better individually meet to meet and although this is a team sport, it comes down to individual races that can sometimes decide a win or loss.”
Oswego State has an invitational meet with other members of the SUNYAC this weekend. It will be a good measuring stick as to where the team stands at this point.
“Everyone is swimming their main events this weekend,” Holman said. “I’m looking for us to swim well and be faster than we have been so far, but this is a mid-season barometer.”
Freshman Daniel Rodriguez of the men’s team is a native of Spain and is currently swimming in his first season as an Oswego State Laker. Holman has been very impressed with Rodriguez so far and is excited to be his coach for the next three seasons.
“It’s been a process from the beginning and I think [Rodriguez] has handled it very well,” Holman said. “It’s tough being away from home especially for him because of how far away it is, but he’s adjusting to it very well.”
Rodriguez said adapting to the American lifestyle was not as difficult as he thought it would be.
“Adapting to the American lifestyle wasn’t that hard for me because my mother is actually American,” Rodriguez said. “The thing that was hard for me was being so many miles away from my parents.”
One big difference in swimming for the Oswego State Lakers than in Spain is the length of the pool that Rodriguez has to swim in.
“I’m used to swimming in long course meters which is a 50-meter pool, but this pool is 22.9 meters [25 yards],” Rodriguez said. “There’s a huge difference and I have a lot more flip turns to do so if I improve on them I think I can cut my time down a few seconds.”
Jalen Buckhout of the women’s team is very pleased with how the first six meets of the season have went and is looking forward to the rest of the season.
“It’s been good so far, but the training has been rough up to this point,” Buckhout said. “Other than that, the races have been fun and the meets have been positive with a lot of cheering involved from our teammates.”
Buckhout has been with the Lakers for two full seasons now and knows what it is like to go into meets against a team in which you are far behind in time projections.
“It’s very difficult because it provides a lot less motivation,” Buckhout said. “It doesn’t necessarily mean that we don’t have positive energy, because we do, it’s just tough for your mind.”
Both the men’s and women’s team will travel to Clinton New York this upcoming weekend to swim at the Hamilton Invite.
