With the Patriot Invitational at George Mason just a few days away, the Georgetown swim team is in a much stronger position this early in the season than it has been in years past.
In the October 11 season opener at James Madison, the Hoyas posted 15 Big East qualifying times. The men’s team is currently 3-3, while the women are 2-5.
“The team is really positive,” head coach Steve Cartwright said. “The enthusiasm is high. The energy level is high … I think they are all looking forward to getting out this weekend and doing some serious racing.”
The team can attribute some of the increased success to the strong freshman class. Freshman Victor Lopez-Cantera has broken two freshman records already this year. He broke the 200-yard butterfly record with a time of 1:56.32 and surpassed his personal best in the Hoyas’ meet against Providence two weeks later, swimming a blistering 1:56.15. On the women’s side, freshman Kristen Pratt broke Georgetown’s 200 fly record, completing the race in 2:08.17 minutes in the team’s meet against Lafayette on November 1.
“Our freshmen came in this year and really got our upperclassmen motivated to work hard,” junior Brian Koh said. “They push us, which ultimately helps the team, and our record shows that.”
More of the change, however, can be attributed to the revamped training methodology implemented by the coaching staff this season. In previous years, the team would make the hike up to Yates in the morning for weight training and in the afternoon for time in the water, but this year the team is combining the whole workout, in and out of the pool, into one afternoon session.
“We know that when we come to practice we have to work hard because we only have those two and a half hours,” Koh said.
In addition to adjustments to the training schedule, the team is following a new meet philosophy.
“We’re not racing as much this year as compared to last season,” Cartwright said. “So we are able to really focus our efforts on the meet at hand and then have somewhere in the vicinity of two weeks before we race again. It allows us some time to focus on the things we need to correct from our past meet, but also have enough time to get excited and to get pumped for the meet coming up.”
Both new strategies have created a winning attitude that the team hasn’t enjoyed the last few seasons, and that attitude has had a positive effect on the Hoyas’ day-to-day development.
“I see the women getting up and ready to race, ready to swim at practices,” senior Christina DiNapoli said. “Really everyone has done a phenomenal job this year … keeping up the enthusiasm, encouraging everyone. I feel really proud of the team.”
Having proven themselves thus far, the Hoyas have high expectations going into their biggest meet of the year at George Mason.
“It’s the meet we have been focusing on ever since the fall, ever since day one,” Cartwright said. “What we are going to see is essentially going to set us up for the Big East later in February. We, as a coaching staff, can anticipate a lot of season best times coupled with probably some lifetime bests.”
