Following a season in which both the Geneseo men’s and women’s swim teams swept the SUNYAC Championships, the Blue Wave have started their 2015-2016 season with no intentions of relinquishing those titles.
Winning has become synonymous with the swim teams at Geneseo and championships are expected by players and staff alike. Combined, the men’s and women’s swim teams have been able to accomplish a very rare feat: winning a combined 24 out of a possible 28 championships in the past 15 seasons.
The Blue Wave have started off their seasons with strong wins over Canisius College and SUNY Fredonia. The Canisius victory gave the Knights a small taste of revenge—the Division I school was one of the few teams able to defeat both of Geneseo’s swim teams last season.
With strong contributions throughout, it was a team effort in pulling out the victories. Junior diver Claudia Kolakowski stood out in particular, however, taking first in 1-meter and 3-meter diving for the women. Freshman distance swimmer Nancy Nasky also made a name for herself with her performance, including first place finishes in both the 500 and 1000-yard freestyle against Canisius.
Kolakowski attributed her success to the team’s overall effort and optimism. “I definitely give major credit to the team's constant support and attitude in and out of the pool,” she said. “Every meet, we are all cheering each other on and keeping the mood upbeat.”
Along with team camaraderie, Kolakowski explained that the teams work collectively to accomplish their goals both in and out of the pool. “Our main goals for the season, I would say, are to win SUNYACS, to have a GPA above a 3.3 collectively—we strive to be a model team on campus—and to have a good group of swimmers/divers representing Geneseo at the NCAA Championships,” she said. “I hope to be one of those people able to represent our team.”
For the men, sophomore freestyle swimmer Jeff Doser and sophomore diver Samuel Randall stood out. Both gave the Blue Wave the edge needed to pull out a tight victory against Canisius.
Freshman freestyle swimmer Clark Davis gave a strong performance against Fredonia, sweeping the 400-yard individual medley and 200-yard breaststroke. With more than a third of the male roster being freshmen, young talent such as Davis could be key to a winning effort. Like many of the other underclassmen, Davis has already shown that he belongs and can succeed at the collegiate level.
Moving forward, the swimming and diving teams have a conference meet against SUNY Cortland on Saturday Nov. 14 at 1 p.m. followed by a matchup against Hartwick College at Ithaca College on Nov. 21 at 4:30 p.m. The real tests for the teams will come in December, however, at the Ithaca Winter Invitational.