"It's about the daily grind. It's a blue-collar sport, a sport of who is willing to work harder every day," said head coach Paul Dotterweich.
Geneseo certainly showed up to work on Oct. 19 for their annual four-team Geneseo Invitational. In an overall great weekend for Geneseo, the men earned 410.5 points for a first place finish and moved to 1-1 on the year and the women advanced to 2-0 with 462 points.
Geneseo's men's team finished ahead of Alfred University's 388.5 points, SUNY Brockport's 280 and Buffalo State College's 205.
At the end of the meet, five Geneseo men were individual winners. Seniors Dan Strothenke and Aaron Wagner led the Blue Wave with first place finishes in the 50 free and 200 individual medley, respectively. Junior Austin Brennan took first in the 100 backstroke in 56.95 seconds, while freshman John Nasky was first in the 500 free in 4:55.27. Sophomore diver Brandon Peifer won the one-meter with a score of 257.90.
On the women's side, freshman Abby Max won both the 1000 free in 11:04.53 and the 100 back in 1:03.14 to lead the way for Geneseo. Fellow freshman Haleigh Wixson also placed first in two races, winning the 200 individual medley in 2:19.04 and the 100 fly in 1:02.93. The more experienced half of the Max sister duo, junior Elyssa Max, won the 500 free in 5:29.88.
The youth of the women's team also produced on the boards as freshman Caroline Gardner placed first in the one-meter diving with a score of 213.65.
With only two seniors on the women's team, Geneseo is relying heavily on the talented freshman class.
Dotterweich said, "They've performed at high levels before, and I strongly believe that they will perform at that level again and that they have the capacity to do so."
Even though Geneseo has some very talented swimmers, both freshman and returners, Dotterweich stressed the importance of the daily grind.
"It's all about training properly. You can take the greatest swimmers in the world and if you train them mediocre, they're going to be mediocre," Dotterweich said.
On Saturday Nov. 5, the Blue Wave head west to face an improved SUNY Fredonia.
"We have a grueling lineup in front of us in terms of events, but I'm excited to see some of our swimmers compete in events they haven't swum in yet."