The Oswego State men’s and women’s swimming and diving season is officially underway, and both teams are off to model starts to their 2017-2018 season.
The Laker men’s team has started 2-0 this season with victories over RIT and SUNY Oneonta. Their victory over RIT was a sentimental one, being their first one over the Tigers in a decade, according to head coach Mike Holman.
“I was super happy with how we performed in those meets,” Holman said. “One of our big focuses in dual meets is being the best team on deck. Having a real team atmosphere, I think they did a great job with that as well. They’re very supportive.”
On the women’s side, they are 1-1 on the season thus far, with a 128-115 victory over conference opponent SUNY Oneonta Red Dragons.
Junior swimmer Hannah Jensen has highlighted the Lakers in both meets with first-place finishes in the 50-yard freestyle event.
Megan Maquet has won both one-meter diving events, which earned her this week’s SUNYAC Female Diver of the Week.
Also getting SUNYAC recognition was sophomore men’s freestyle swimmer Daniel Rodriguez, who won SUNYAC Male Swimmer of the Week for the second time in his career.
“We want as much of that positive recognition as we can get, obviously,” Holman said. “SUNYAC has some talented kids, so anytime you can get that recognition, it’s certainly a nice thing.”
Rodriguez was also named Laker Athlete of the Week for the second time in his career.
He was noted for the successful offseason he had with the top Div. III finish in the Open Water Championships. It may be an offseason for the collegiate season, but Rodriguez’s work ethic rarely slows down year round.
“I swim with my club team, so I worked on everything, basically. Sprints, freestyle, turns, underwater, everything,” Rodriguez said.
Holman worked with every individual in the pre-season on what they can improve on and sees a lot of improvement compared to last season’s teams.
“Our focus always in the beginning of the year is going over the basic things we need to work on,” Holman said. “Underwater and kicking is our big focus, so that’s what we spend a lot of time on. For the most part, it’s just getting in shape.”
Laker men’s and women’s, men’s especially, feature rather young rosters that are top-heavy with underclassmen.
The men’s team has no juniors and just four seniors on their 18-man roster. The women’s side only has seven upperclassmen out of their 20 swimmers and divers.
“We have a lot of talent in our sophomore and freshman class,” Holman said. “Which bodes well for the future, as long as we bring another good class next year. That’s how it works.”
Holman alluded to the difference in expectations that swimming and diving has from other sports. It is a team and individual sport, but is not one with those ‘Miracle on the Ice’ type moments, especially when going up against SUNY Geneseo, who has won 18 of the last 19 SUNYAC Championships in men’s competition and the last 10 SUNYAC Championships for women’s competition.
“Once we see everyone swim, we’ll have a pretty good idea where we might fit,” Holman said. “I think the [men’s] team has a legitimate shot in that upper echelon. They realistically could be as high as second. There’s a lot of good teams in that range.”
For the women’s side, Holman has seen a year-by-year improvement and expects that to continue this year.
“This year, we have the ability to pass a team or two,” Holman said. “Our focus will be on each individual doing their best and performing well. And that is a huge victory there.”
The Lakers will travel to Wells College this weekend for a non-conference dual-meet, one that Holman expects they will do well in.
“We’re going to work pretty hard this week, business as usual,” Holman said.
That meet will take place at 1:00 p.m. Saturday in Aurora, New York, hosted by the Wells College Express.
Photo: Taylor Woods | The Oswegonian
