Meredith Faggart
The first half of the men’s swimming season was spent evaluating last year’s disappointing performance at the ACC Championships. Since then, the swimmers have tried to put the past behind them and simply focus.
The Georgia Tech Invitational, which took place in Atlanta Nov. 16-18, served as a preview for the upcoming ACC Championships this weekend, again hosted by Georgia Tech.
“The dual meets are a different scenario than ACCs,” redshirt junior Stephen Mellor said. “There’s a lot more pressure [this weekend], but also a lot more rest. We are really encouraged by the performance at Georgia Tech because the atmosphere is most similar to ACCs. Now that we are fully rested, we are going to be peaking at the right time.”
In an attempt to motivate the younger swimmers and prepare them for an intimidating atmosphere, Mellor said the juniors and seniors have been sharing individual experiences from meets and past ACC Championships.
“Last year the freshman class struggled as a whole, so we’ve tried to really encourage the freshmen and teach them as much as possible,” Mellor said.
Freshman Greg Baskwell said he understands the importance of ACCs and, in general, the team must race like they have never raced before.
“We know what we are able to accomplish,” he said. “We know this is the biggest meet of the year.”
Baskwell said the team also knows that the “little things” can affect a race greatly.
“In practice, we’ve been working on the little things like starts, turns and trying to fix techniques,” Baskwell said. “Sprint events can be decided by less than a second. If your turns are slow, that can be the difference between first and eight place.”
Mellor said the sprint relay event could be the team’s biggest weakness due to lack of depth.
“[In] years before, we had Cullen Jones. And it’s hard to replace someone like that,” Mellor said. “Right now, we have to start building our sprint program. We are going through a rough patch. But that’s the good thing about ACCs, anyone can go in there and surprise a lot of people.”
While the sprint events lack depth, Baskwell said depth in the distance IM and freestyle events will be a major strength for the Wolfpack. He said Mellor will definitely place in the top three in both back stroke events as well.
According to Mellor, the team is anticipating a key performance from sophomore Taylor Goodwin.
“Last year, Taylor Goodwin had a good meet and we are expecting him to peak again,” Mellor said. “[Senior Dan] Glauber and [senior Jack] Roney are looking to finish with a bang. The freshman class should be the biggest surprise for the ACC.”
In order to surprise others, Mellor said the freshmen have to stay confident. While dual meets cover many events in one day, the ACC Championships are spread throughout four days.
“We’ve stressed that no matter what happens in the first event, there’s still time,” Mellor said. “As long as they don’t get discouraged and keep their heads up, they can still offer a lot for the team.”
Men’s ACC finishes last 10 years1998 fourth1999 fourth2000 third2001 sixth2002 seventh2003 fifth2004 fifth2005 sixth2006 fifth2007 seventhSource: ACC