Swim team dives in
Men and women's swimming and diving work together toward a successful season

Michelle Chapdelaine | staff writer

Having just competed in the first regular season meet against Bentley College on Oct. 28, the St. Michael’s College swimming and diving team is optimistic about the upcoming season, despite a seventh place finish for both the men and the women.

A meet to build the season on

“We did as well as could be expected,” head coach Jim Donoghue says.  “We had real solid swims by lots of people, and some people had faster times for their first swim this year than their first swim last year.”

Women swimmers prepare for a lap while other teammates look on. Alex McIntire, photo

A big part of the first meet is the athletes getting over the initial nervousness, and figuring out what they have to work with, he says.

First-years Aidan Warhall and Maggie Mulhern both competed in their first collegiate swim meet at Bentley, and both say they are happy with outcome of the meet.

The two also agreed that assimilating into the St. Michael’s swimming and diving team was not a tough task, saying that they entered a welcoming and friendly team.

Leading the team are senior captains Mike Kaas, Kerry Slade, Ed Fennessey, and Alanna O’Donnell.  Junior captain Stephanie Hammer is abroad and will return to the team after the fall semester.

“I think Bentley was a meet we can build the rest of our season on, everyone was so supportive of one another,” Slade says.

“We have a lot to improve on, but it was a really good start,” O’Donnell adds.

Coach Donoghue also noted that the three men and one woman currently abroad, will miss the first five meets during the fall semester.

The swim team graduated six seniors in 2007, and the dive team graduated one.  Dive captain Fennessey says that the loss of Michael DeGrandpre is the most noticeable on the diving squad.

“He was the heart and soul of the team, he had such a presence," Fennessey says. "There was a change in the atmosphere when he walked in the room. Alanna and I try to keep practice light, because when we get too serious, we get down on ourselves.”

A tale of two teams

Under the title of St. Michael’s swimming and diving are four groups: men’s swimming, women’s swimming, men’s diving, and women’s diving.

Both men and women diving teams prepare for a meet together. Alex McIntire, photo

At meets, the points from the men’s swimming and diving competition combine to determine the place for both the men and women teams. However, the women and men practice together every day.

“The men and women work together well,” Donoghue says.  “The dynamic of having the two teams practice together increases motivation.  The competitive women want to beat the guys, and then the men have the macho thing where they don’t want the girls to beat them.”

The swimmers and divers have different practice times at the pool during the week.  While Donoghue is the head swimming and diving coach, the divers work more closely with coach Cathy Seward at their practices.  And at meets, the swimming heats stop when the divers take the springboards.

“There is kind of a subculture on the diving team,” Fennessey says.

Even though the athletes do see a separation between the teams, the swimmers and divers still cheer each other on and are supportive, O’Donnell says.

“I noticed that the upperclassmen swimmers are close with the divers, first-year swimmer Christine Amoresano says. "I think as the season goes on, the underclassmen will get to know the divers better and just increase the team atmosphere."

Heading in the right direction

With one meet under their belts, the team is looking to work on goals that members have been talking about over the past two weeks.

“Our big goal is to win as many meets as possible,” Kaas says. “Specifically, to break the 800-meter freestyle relay record.”

Senior Ed Fennessey sets up for a dive during competition. Alex McIntire, photo

Team members want to focus on knowing their teammates' individual goals, to be able to better encourage them at meets, Slade says.

The team has also been concentrating on good nutrition and staying hydrated.

“When you swim, you do sweat.  Because you are in the water, you don’t realize how much water you’re going through,” Donoghue says.

The coach says that he trusts that his team is taking issues like eating healthy and drinking enough water seriously.

“One advantage to coaching at this school is that I have smart people on my team.  When you give smart people information, they tend to make good decisions,” Donoghue says.

Team meetings, bonding activities like apple picking and pasta dinners, team lifting, and the focus on nutrition should combine to help the team compete at its best this season, Slade says.

Donoghue says he is confident that the character of last year’s squad will continue this season.

“I want to match last year’s spirit as a team," Donoghue says. "Last year we had the finest collection of people I’ve seen in a long time, and this year we’ve stared off in the same direction.”