Ripon College Days

The men's and women's swim teams are making waves as they began another season with a solid first showing in their Oct. 29 meet at St. Norbert. The women's team placed third behind Oshkosh and Whitewater while the men placed fourth.

"Records on both the girls and guys team are going to come down [this season]," says senior Michele Bergman, who competed in four events at the season's first meet. "Throughout the meet I knew we were doing well, but it was still a surprise to find out we finished third."

At the season opener the Red Hawk women finished ahead of conference rivals St. Norbert and Lawrence. "I don't think we have ever done that before," says senior Emmy Giovanni. "So that was a big success for us that I am confident we can repeat."

Head Coach Richard Coles echoes his player's comments.

"I am very excited for this year on the men's and the women's side," says Coles. "Historically, our weakness has been in numbers."

Last year's team was composed of a meager nine females and one male, far short of the 18 members needed to constitute a full team. This year there are 15 women and nine men.

"Coach Coles, who just started as head swim coach last year, did a fantastic job recruiting, which should go a very long way in strengthening the team," says Giovanni.

A large number of first year swimmers are among the additions, including swimmers who competed at the state level during high school.

"It is very exciting to have such talented freshmen recruits on both the men's and the women's side," says senior Brian Macak.

Besides adding numbers, Giovanni notes an additional advantage of having so many first year swimmers.

"Having a large percentage of our team being first years is excellent because it means our team is only going to grow in the future," she says.

The additions will also add depth to the team, says Coles.

"We will be able to put quality swimmers in every area," he says. "In past years we were unable to have relay teams."

Though Macak says there's certainly room for improvements, he's happy with the results of the season's first meet.

"Already both the men's and women's team are a mere five seconds off their medley relay records, which were set at conference meets," he says. "We still need to work on our fitness, which can be seen after only one week. Practices are increasing in yardage and intensity as we start to progress into the season. We are also continuing to work on our strength in the weight room, which will surely yield results in the pool."

The team is also focused on correcting past mistakes to achieve maximum success this season.

"Our weakness in the past is not working hard enough in the pool, but we are going to enforce during practice that the team is taking the most difficult intervals possible," says Macak.

Overall, expectations in practice and competition are high.

"This team is very talented, self-motivated and help each other out, which only boosts team unity," says Macak, "You can expect big things from the Ripon College swim team this year."

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