The Dutchwomen swimmers have put together a solid year under
head coach Scott Felix and will look to end their season with a top-three
finish in the state event while trying to qualify a few individuals for the
NCAA championship.
“I really think that the team is focused on the state meet,”
said Felix. “In fact, this is the most
focused I've seen them since I was named head coach and I'm anxious for us to
get to Syracuse.”
Winning the title will take an entire team effort with some
outstanding individual performances.
LeMoyne, Ithaca, Nazareth,
Rensselaer and Vassar are the teams that Felix sees
standing in the way of Union's bid to bring home the
title.
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“Our diving crew of Sarah Steuer, Molly
Freeman, Tara Campbell and Jamie Dughi will be our biggest asset,” Felix
explained. “But to win the title it is
going take our entire team stepping up and going faster than they have ever
gone.
“We will be looking for leadership out of Chrissie Duff,
Brianne Phillips and Sydnie Wells and freshmen Christa White and Ashley
Braniecki will have to step up for us in their events. I believe the team is capable of winning the
championship if they want.”
Whatever happens at the state meet the Dutchwomen have made
a great deal of progress this year. Not
only did the Garnet break a 20-meet winless streak, they finished with a
regular-season record of 3-6 and performed well at the Liberty League
championship meet. Individually, Wells and Duff were each named the Liberty
League's “Swimmer of the Week” during the season, Steuer was the “Diver of the
Week” and White captured a pair of “Rookie of the Week” awards. Steuer and
Freeman each made the standard in qualifying for the NCAA meet. They are awaiting a decision from a panel of
judges (who view videos of all the divers) and if they are in the top 22, they
will have qualified for the national event.
“We turned things around and are headed in the right
direction,” said Felix.