After starting off the season with a win against Seattle University and a good performance against Washington State, the University of Idaho women’s swimming and diving team looks to continue to perform at a high level as they continue their season. Mark Sowa, head coach of UI swim & dive, is thankful that the team is able to have a season despite everything that has happened this year.
“I’m intrigued to see what we can do,” Sowa said. “I felt like the two competitions on the swimming side that we had were really good. For being out of competition for as long as we were, I think we learned a lot about ourselves, and we learned a lot about who we are as a team, things that we need to work on. Is it ideal? No, but we find ourselves incredibly lucky, and we’re incredibly grateful to be in the water right now, doing what we love and representing the school that we love.”
The Vandals opened their season against Seattle University as they claimed victory 196-119, closing out the meet winning three-of-four events. Even with the loss against Washington State, the Vandals saw positives as they earned many top finishes in the meet.
“It was definitely a confidence booster,” Junior Katie Hale said. “I think it was something we needed. I think the first couple weeks of training were pretty difficult. Our training was cut off a few times so it was definitely a stressful time. It was just really exciting and helpful to pick up a win and kind of remotivate the team.”
Hale has been off to a remarkable season as she has picked up wins individually and in relays which led to her being named the TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Swimmer of the Week. In the season opener, she won every race she competed in, and against WSU she placed first in the 50-yard butterfly and earned many second place finishes throughout the meet.
“Katie is a tremendous competitor,” Sowa said. “There’s definitely joy in watching her race and she kind of exudes that joy, so I think she really leads by example.”
The Vandals’ squad this season differs as the team is younger than last year with many freshmen and sophomores on the roster. Hale leads the junior leadership along with two other juniors as they look to integrate the freshmen more into the program and help lead the team.
“Our entire junior class which is small, they’ve done a really good job under very strange circumstances trying to keep this group together,” Sowa said. “Our divers are even younger, we just have freshmen and sophomores. I think our sophomore divers are doing a really good job to take those freshmen under their wing and try and teach them what it’s like to be a Vandal with limited opportunities to compete. They did a great job in Arizona this past weekend against really good competition… That was a great learning experience for them as they will have less chances to compete than the swimmers will.”
The Vandals have a break before their competition resumes as their next meet isn’t until Jan. 29 against Washington State. Idaho closes out the regular season Jan. 30 against Dixie State in the UI Swim Center. The break from competition is similar to what the Vandals have done in the past, but the limited amount of meets before the WAC Championships is a new thing for the Vandals to face this season.
“We’re going to look at the information that we do have from this half the season and try to put that into our training plan for that last six weeks,” Sowa said. “I’m expecting good things, this is a talented group, it’s a young group. So the nice part, if there is a nice part about this whole situation is that because it’s so strange, I think it takes the pressure off a little bit.”
Armin Mesinovic can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @arminmesinovic.