By Catherine Laroche
They’re only halfway through their season, but the U of L men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams have already broken 14 school records.
“I’m surprised at how well they are doing in racing,” said Louisville head coach Arthur Albiero. “We broke 14 school records at the Miami Invitational. Last year, we broke 19 school records.”
The Cardinals’ success has come with the help of a significant number of underclassmen. The men’s roster contains eight freshmen, three sophomores, four juniors and only one senior. The women’s roster includes four freshmen, five sophomores and four juniors. Ann Isaacs and Angie Nicolletta are on the only seniors on the squad.
“We are very young,” said Albiero. “Half of the roster on both sides (men’s and women’s) is underclassmen. Because of our youth, we have taken more of a teaching approach. We are helping them understand good decisions in academics and swimming.”
Albiero receives some help from senior captain and spring freestyler Tim Thomas when it comes to teaching the underclassmen on the team.
“As far as leadership goes, I try to lead by example,” Thomas said. “I strive to do my best in the pool and the classroom, and hope that my positive example will rub off on my teammates.”
“My advice to my team is two-fold,” Thomas explained. “First of all, you have to have the desire to be successful. Swimming is a miserable sport if you don’t love the training, so you have to be passionate about the training, as well as competition.
“Second, you must commit yourself to your academics and athletics in order to get the full benefit of your investment. You will never know what you are capable of if you don’t give everything you have each time out.”
Some of the freshmen are catching on quickly to Albiero’s and Thomas’ advice.
“The coaching staff and upperclassmen have taught me to dream big and to be as consistent as possible during training, because it will all pay off in the end,” said freshman backstroke and sprint freestyler Paul Augustus. “I have learned that if you dream big and fall short, you will still realize that the journey has made you a better swimmer and a stronger person.”
The journey to becoming a better swimmer is a difficult one. A normal week of practice for a U of L swimmer or diver consists of 6 a.m. practice in the pool, Monday through Friday. In those practices, they work on a variation of everything, including kicking, use of snorkels, underwater work, dry land, back exercising, weight training and flexibility work.
They also return to the pool in the afternoon every day for more practice. The team swims at least 5,000 yards a day. On Wednesdays, the team has a recovery day.
“Practices are tough,” Thomas said. “Physically, we are in great shape and our training allows us to perform at the high levels, because we are forced to in practice each day. Mentally, a few minutes of racing seems very easy compared to the hours of work we put in each week for training.”
The tough practices helped the Cardinals during the first half of their season. Before the winter break, the men’s and women’s teams saw victories over Eastern Illinois and conference rival Cincinnati this season.
“We were very excited to host our conference rival, Cincinnati,” Albiero said. “In the past, Cincinnati has dominated us. We didn’t prepare any different for that meet. This is the first time both men and women have swept them.”
The Cards still have a competitive schedule ahead of them.
“We are all looking forward to our final C-USA Championship meet in late February,” Thomas said. “We travel to UK, WKU and division III powerhouse Kenyon in the next few weeks. We also have our final home meet against Evansville, which is also senior night, so that will be pretty special as well.”
The men’s team’s next meet will be against Wright State in Crawford Pool on Friday. The women’s team will face Arkansas in Lexington on Saturday.
