After one the best off-seasons coach Brooks Teal can remember, the women’s swimming and diving team has high hopes going into the upcoming season, which will begin with the annual Red & White Scrimmage next Friday, Oct. 9.
“The women had an excellent summer,” Teal said. “It was one of our best summers ever as far as training and commitment.”
The team’s 2009 roster features ten seniors, twice as many as it had last season. Senior Patrice Dason said the team is the closest it has been during her career.
“We are probably the most confident we have been in my four years being here,” Dason said. “Our team has gotten a lot closer over my four years. Every year it has gotten better and better.”
Dason, who holds the second best 100 butterfly time (55.54) in school history, also said team chemistry is especially vital for motivation because of the physically taxing nature of the sport.
“It’s a tough sport, so when you’re up there on the block, you have to be swimming for someone to put your body through that kind of thing,” Dason said. “At the end of your race, knowing that your teammates are there on the sidelines, knowing that they care about you and you care about them, it pushes you harder to race.”
In addition to the experience the senior class will provide, Teal said the talent the incoming freshmen will bring to the water is another reason he is confident in how his team will fare during the upcoming season.
“We have an outstanding incoming freshmen class,” Teal said. “So I am very confident that the ladies are going to be ready for a great season.”
Senior captain Sarah Merritt said the effort the freshmen have already put forth in practice and in the classroom has impressed her as much as their talent and versatility as swimmers.
“They’ve been great, they’ve already been training so fast and really showing what they can do in practice with fast stuff off the blocks. A lot of them are well rounded so that will help us,” Merritt said. “Academically, they’re great too, so that’s perfect for our team GPA.”
One area of interest for the team will be on the diving board, where a pair of highly-touted freshmen will attempt to fill in the void left by last year’s lone diver, Kristin Davies, who won the national championship in the platform dive. Hannah Hopkins of Greensboro and Kirstyn Shepler of Point Vedra Beach, Fla. will look to fill her place over time.
Hopkins won second place in the 3-meter (336.65) and 10th in the 1-meter (279.60) at the 2008 AAU diving nationals, while Shepler qualified for the U.S.A diving senior nationals for the 10-meter dive and has experience in all three diving events.
Teal said Davies’ national championship performance last March likely had a big influence on the divers the team signed for this season, and also predicted the impact of her title will be felt in future years.
“[Davies] played a huge role and she definitely put N.C. State diving on the map. She opened the doors for us to have a lot of divers to look at us that may not have before,” Teal said. “I think that will continue to pay off in the years to come.”
