SLU Swim and Dive headed to Hampton, Virginia for the annual Atlantic 10 Championships meet. The meet was held over four days, with all swimmers and divers competing in multiple events. 

George Washington’s men and women’s teams were able to claim first at the end of the week. SLU’s men obtained eighth place while the women earned 11th. 

The Billiken men left with 22% season bests and 51% personal bests. The women were just behind the men with 37% season bests and 17% personal bests. 

Sophomore swimmers Zach Byars, Jimmy Dukes, Jack Redden and Brae Sanchez all had a good mindset about the somewhat unfortunate results.

“A lot of the swimmers on the team made really good improvements. Team morale is at an all time high. The coaches have been supporting us the whole way through,” Brae Sanchez, a breaststroker said. 

Sanchez was the top scorer for the men’s team and ended up dropping in all of his events. He made the finals for two individual events. 

Not all swimmers were able to perform as well as they would have liked. “Personally, I was given a scoring opportunity, and I didn’t score any points, so it was a bit of a letdown,” Jimmy Dukes, an individual medley swimmer said. 

All of the swimmers are already looking forward to how they can improve their season next year. They believe that some small changes can improve the team’s performance. 

“I think we should keep more or less the same program, but maybe change the taper programs a little bit,” said Jack Redden, a freestyle sprinter.

“I think the taper worked really well for me. I think it needs to be more specified for how different people work. The girls probably have to have a different taper program [than the boys],” agreed Zach Byars, an individual medley and backstroker. 

The improvements for the training could have been made throughout the year and not just before the Championships. 

Sanchez is looking ahead to next season on how he can continue his success and improvement in the pool. “I think a big change for me to make is to focus on the small details in the middle of the season,” said Sanchez.

SLU Swim and Dive ends its season with both hard work from swimmers, and head coach Mary Woods, assistant coach Austin Mayer and dive coach Renee Ham.