With an unknown challenge ahead, the Hillsdale College swim seam will dive into its first G-MAC season, fueled by fresh competition.
After nearly 80 percent of the team swam lifetime best times at the GLIAC championship in February, head coach Kurt Kirner said he expects success from his team, which is bolstered by experienced upperclassmen and supplemented by the best recruitment class Kirner said he’s seen in six years.
“The G-MAC is going to give our athletes more opportunity, for a couple of reasons,” Kirner said. “One is that we’re going to compete in 24 places. Another is that the level of competition is more reasonable for the talent of our team.”
While these two elements will change the team’s season, the transition into the G-MAC provides swimmers another chance to refine and showcase their skills with a special championship meet that Kirner helped organize.
“It will completely change the way we prepare for our championships,” Kirner said. “Virtually our whole team will have the opportunity to compete for points at the meet, yet our best athletes are really going to have to step up to make sure their times allow them to qualify.”
Co-hosted by the G-MAC and Mount East conferences, 10 women’s teams and eight men’s teams will compete at the four-day, mid-February meet held in Canton, Ohio, at an olympic-sized pool.
“We have a very unique design, having two conferences that are coming together to host a championship event,” Kirner said. “It really could be a model for championships in the future. It gives our athletes a great opportunity to improve their times and qualify for NCAA’s.”
The level of competition at the championship meet becomes quite robust after combining the two conferences, according to Kirner. To meet their challengers, he said, the swimmers will have to be aggressive in keeping their times competitive throughout the season. With a strong team of talented freshmen, sophomores, and motivated upperclassmen, the women are prepared to do just that.
After the team graduated four of the team’s anchors last spring and added five new freshmen to nine sophomores, underclassmen swimmers now dominate the McAvoy Pool, outweighing the juniors and seniors by six on a 20-person team. According to team captain senior Peyton Bowen, the young roster shifted last year’s balance, but it has brought new energy to the squad.
“Usually the younger swimmers don’t have the same familiarity with college swimming as opposed to high school swimming,” Bowen said. “But the really great thing about having a young team is that the underclassmen bring a new energy to the team.”
Freshmen Katherine Heeres, Emma Rao, Rose Smiddy, Mary Vita, and Hannah Wilkens make up a recruitment class that Kirner said surpasses every group of incoming freshmen since 2011.
“I’m confident that this season is going to be a good experience, because the girls on the team are all very encouraging, enthusiastic, and positive,” Smiddy said. “With such amazing and talented swimmers, I’m really looking forward to competing as a charger this season.”
“The pace in the pool is faster. We go deeper, talent-wise, in our lineup,” Kirner said.
But it’s not just the new athletes that have sharpened the team’s competition. Junior Anika Ellingson has returned to the team after representing Hillsdale at the NCAA national competition in March. Junior Suzanne Detar is only the second person ever at Hillsdale to touch the wall after a 50 freestyle in under 24 seconds, an excellent time, according to Kirner.
Kirner said he expects sophomore Danielle Lebleu, junior Grace Houghton, sophomore Catherine Voisin to excel in their secondary events after he watched them accomplish some breakthrough swims last year.
“All of them are really great swimmers,” Kirner said. “I’m looking for a lot more out of each of them this year in some of their secondary events.”
The women’s swim team will have its annual Blue/White Intrasquad Meet on Saturday. They will also welcome alumnae to compete against each other, a new facet of a meet they hold every year.
