Swimming wraps up 2011-2012 season this weekend

J.P. Bartmess- Sports Editor

2/3/12

After a 21 year hiatus, the William Jewell College swim team heads north to Minnesota for the Minnesota Challenge and finishes up its 2011-12 swim season.
“It has been a great experience for my team and [me] this season. We have improved and competed that has met my expectations for this season. I am excited for the future of this program and seeing it improve for next season,” Mark Gole, head swim coach, said.
Last week, the teams traveled to Springfield to take on Missouri State University in a dual-swim meet. Although the team did not win any races, they had some personal best times. In the Women’s 200 Free, Kelly Moore, first-year, swam a time of 2:05.64 which was her season-best time. Rachel Beranek, first-year, swam her best unrested, unshaved time in the women’s 200 Fly, and Maggie Metz, first-year, swam a season best in the women’s 200 IM. In the Men’s 500 Free Matt Luton, first year, had his best unrested and unshaved time in the men’s 500 free and a second place finish with a 4:55.35 time.
“The team was very tired after our Florida trip and winter training. I didn’t expect us to win, but wish we could have competed better. If we want to be the best in [NCAA] Division II, we need to beat Missouri State, and they are coming to Jewell next year for a race,” Gole said.
In a 22-day stretch over winter break, the swimming team trained and practiced 20 of those days in Florida and the others at the Mabee Center. They had two two-hour practices each day, bringing them to 24-25 hours of practice each week. The training consisted of swimming, 15 miles of running, push-ups and medicine ball work. Gole mentioned that they had no training limitations over this break and were not confined to a maximum number of hours they could practice within a given week.
“I felt this stretch brought our team closer together. We kept on building momentum where the last three days of training were the best days of the entire stretch. This will make them stronger and tougher as we finish this season and prepare for next season,” he said.
Both teams have been preparing for this weekend’s trip to Minnesota at the Minnesota Challenge which is hosted at the University of Minnesota today and tomorrow. They will also compete against Minnesota State-Mankato on Sunday. They are using this as their national qualifying tournament, even though the team cannot compete in the NCAA Division-II National Championships due to the College being in a transition year into the NCAA.
“All the schools that are there are trying to get their swimmers to get national qualifying times for the national meet. For some, this is their last chance. The competition will be the best we have seen all year, so I’m excited to see what our swimmers can do and see where they stand,” Gole said.