Blue Wave looks to follow up decades of wins

There is a timeless expression in sports, “Winning isn’t everything.” Apparently, the Geneseo Blue Wave men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams haven’t yet gotten that message. The women of the Blue Wave have won six championships and are looking for their seventh title this season. Their success dates back decades as they’ve won an unheard of 15 SUNYAC championships in 17 years. There isn’t a professional team that can even be used as an example against that.

But the achievements don’t end there. The men are just as successful in their own right, as the team has won 12 SUNYAC championships in the past 13 years.

Though Geneseo is only a small public college in western New York, its accomplishments in the sport are well noted across the nation as it has made multiple trips to the illustrious NCAA Tournament, which features the best teams in the country.

The team has thrived because of dedicated and motivated leaders. Head coach Paul Dotterweich acknowledges a few exceptional athletes who have been key to the recent success.

“We have several leaders on the women’s team, hard to pick out a few, although [junior] Abby Max is the defending SUNYAC Swimmer of the Year and an eight-time All-American,” Dotterweich said. “She is clearly a very talented athlete.”

Dotterweich added, “[Senior] Lily Powell has been to NCAAs on relays the last two years and has four All-American certifications as well. [Senior] Emily Wanamaker has been to the regional meet in diving.”

The men also returned swimmers who are used to winning and made it to the finals last year, including sophomore Kristian Tialios, who is continuing his string of victories this season.

Just last season, the Blue Wave women dominated the competition in the SUNYAC championship, winning the 200-yard freestyle, 500-yard freestyle relay, 400 free relay, 200-yard medley relay and 200-yard breaststroke.

The men, unfortunately, suffered one of their only defeats by falling to SUNY Cortland in the finals. This year, they are looking for a different finale in order to add another trophy to their already overflowing case.

It is through “hard work … [and] being willing to go the extra mile in training and pushing yourself beyond any perceived limits,” Dotterweich said. He added that this exceptional team has thrived and captured 21 SUNYAC titles in its history.

The women and men remain undefeated in SUNYAC meets and are on their way.

“How can there not be pressure [to win SUNYACs],” Dotterweich said. Fortunately, the members of the Blue Wave seem not to notice, as they are too busy winning.

Blue Wave impresses against Division I schools

The Geneseo Blue Wave men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams began their season against Division I Canisius College on Saturday Nov. 2, losing 144-99. Despite the loss, head coach Paul Dotterweich said the team had an encouraging performance.

“We won six of 13 events against a Division I school, so that’s an indication of how strong our upper-end swimmers are,” Dotterweich said. “Based on the performances, for where we are in the season, I was pretty pleased with what I saw.”

Junior Kenny Athans led the men’s side, as he outraced the competition in two individual events. He finished first in the 200 freestyle and the 100 freestyle with winning times of 1 minute, 47.1 seconds and 49.07 seconds, respectively. Sophomore Yonghoon Jun also impressed by receiving top honors in the 100 butterfly with a time of 52.26 seconds, as well as being a part of the winning 200 medley relay along with fellow sophomores Kristian Tialios, Justin Ongkingco and Jordan Gay.

Women’s diving also showed its talent in senior Emily Wanamaker, who won both diving events. She earned winning scores of 256.84 in the one-meter diving competition and 252.89 in the three-meter diving competition.

Dotterweich said he believes that his swimmers will keep improving. On the women’s side, most of his upper-end swimmers are facing injuries, though. Six-time All-American junior Haleigh Wixson is out for the year for a shoulder injury. Seven-time All-American junior Abby Max is nursing a fracture in her foot, so she will miss the beginning of the season. Senior Lauren Boyce is also dealing with an injury.

Dotterweich remains optimistic, however, and sees the potential the Blue Wave has with the current group of swimmers.

“On the men’s side, we’re in a pretty good place,” Dotterweich said. “We have to develop some of our younger swimmers. If we want to win the conference meet, our lower-end guys have to step up and perform on a higher level.

“On the women’s side, we’ll get [Max] and [Boyce] back. So once they’re back, that’ll be a significant shift in terms of the strength of our team,” he added.

Blue Wave will take on SUNY Fredonia on Saturday Nov. 9. Dotterweich said he’s hopeful the younger swimmers will use the experience against Canisius to face the Division III opponent.

“It’s their first college meet, so we’ll give them some time to step up, and I know that they’ll progress as the season goes on,” he said.

Dotterweich said that he is confident in his team and, despite growing pains, they will be able to pull off a successful season – maybe even a conference title.