As the University of Indianapolis men’s and women’s swim teams prepare for the upcoming season, they expect a strong year ahead. Assistant Coach for the men’s team, Drew Reinke, says both teams share a common goal.
“We are all on the same page in trying to go towards one goal of winning the conference, winning nationals, placing really high at the NCAA meet as well as individually, and then I think that we also have a lot of good kids that will contribute on that team as well,” Reinke said.
While Reinke is excited to welcome incoming freshmen and transfer athletes and see what they contribute, key players stand out on the rosters. On the women’s side, Caterina Radwan Dana “…provides great speed and great depth in the Individual Medley (IM), the two IM, and the four IM,” according to Reinke. On the men’s side, multiple freshmen came in highly skilled, making them key players and a great asset to UIndy’s Swim team.
Senior Silas Buessing emphasized that the chemistry between each athlete on the women’s and men’s side is unmatched and incredibly important, especially for the freelays to coordinate. When the team has good chemistry, the season becomes a lot easier, according to Buessing.
“A team goal we have is mostly to win or to get close to winning nationals as part of this, of course, winning the conference hopefully,” said Buessing. “We look at where we can practice or improve our techniques. We compare ourselves to how the other teams perform, so we can see if we need more endurance, if we need more sprint work or explosiveness, or if we have to work more on the waltz or in the swimming part of our event,” said Buessing.
The men’s team is looking ahead to its Back the Pack meet against McKendree on Oct. 24 at Ruth Lilly Fitness Center. Reinke feels like the team is well prepared and is eagerly waiting for their season to start up.
