The GW’s men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams start competition today at the 1998 Atlantic 10 Conference Championships in Buffalo, NY.
The GW teams have come close to winning the crown in recent years, and this year the men’s and women’s teams will try to take the championship away from St. Bonaventure on the women’s side and Massachusetts on the men’s side.
A strong three days of competition in Buffalo may allow some of GW’s best swimmers, divers and relay teams to move into the next tier of competition – the NCAA Championships, according to assistant coach Dan Rhinehart.
“(Our swimmers) have set definite goals, and they made them possible in the middle of the season, so we’re pretty excited about what that could mean for the (A-10) Championships,” Rhinehart said.
Closing out its season at 8-3, the men’s team boasts 1997 A-10 Most Outstanding Male Swimmer Tim Champney, and 1997 All-Conference selections Rush Taylor and Juan Bocanegra. The women’s team, which finished with a 7-2 record this season, is led by last season’s team MVP Connie Shelton.
“We’ve had a really good season for both the men’s and women’s teams,” Rhinehart said. “(Head coach Marc Hagen) keeps the (swimmers) focused mentally. He has a central theme of getting them to do their best.”
The stakes get raised when the competition moves from a dual-meet format to a conference championship, Rhinehart said. When eight teams join the competition, point distribution runs by a different system.
The overall first-place team will be the squad with the highest accumulation of points, which can be gained with a strong accumulation of first-, second- and third-place finishes. The team with a few star swimmers will not necessarily win the overall title.
“With all eight teams there it’s going to make for some interesting swims,” Rhinehart said.
Champney and Taylor both registered consideration times in last year’s championships – one step short of the automatic qualifying times needed to reach the NCAA Championships.
On Tuesday, when the teams boarded their flight to Buffalo, Champney said competitors’ minds were on anything but the championships. But he said today would be the time to start focusing “and get (their) minds on winning.”
“Everyone has their own way of focusing because in the water. It’s an individual sport. I just try to have fun with it. I laugh a lot,” said Champney, who is the team captain and holds eight GW records.
Champney said even though swimming is an individual sport, GW still focuses on teamwork.
“The team concept is definitely there,” he said.
