Sitting at 4-0 in dual meets and coming off a big win in the Wabash Invitational, the men's swim team has a good mindset going into the DePauw Invitational this weekend.
The Tigers have had great success thus far and head coach Adam Cohen is very pleased with the team's performances one month into the season. With only four dual meets behind them, the Tigers have been able to pull out four big wins.
"We are really pleased with where we are right now," Cohen said. "We're sitting in a good spot, but we can't rest on what happened yesterday."
For senior John Montgomery, the Invitational is going to be just another stepping stone on the team's way to reaching its goals on the season.
"Doing a full taper and full rest, we also shave and go our best times and national cuts and get ourselves in good gear for conference when it's time to rest and go fast," Montgomery said. "We have set really high standards and goals for ourselves, and we think we will be able to do some damage on a national level as well as a conference level this year being our first year in the NCAC."
In their inaugural year in the NCAC, the Tigers are now in a conference with two of the best swim teams in the nation. The Tigers placed first out of seven in the Wabash Invitational before Thanksgiving break. This meet was not only a big win for the team but also set up a confident mindset going into the DePauw Invitational.
"We won the Wabash Invitational this year, which we haven't won in a long time, so that was a big deal for us," Montgomery said. "We beat two Div. II teams that are pretty good, so that's a confidence booster for the team right now."
Coming off the Wabash Invitational win, Cohen thinks the team is prepared for the DePauw Invitational. With a lot of hard training in the early part of the season and the team tapering, they will be able to come out strong.
"We can't worry about our opponents or the score, but we are going to focus on what we are capable of accomplishing," Cohen said. "We need to show what we are capable of. This weekend will prepare us for the meets later in the season where a lot of things are on the line."
With such a close-knit team, the camaraderie has aided success. Not only in practice can the team push each other harder, but also in meets, the support of the rest of the team is crucial for the swimmers.
"We are a really close team and swimming is viewed as an individual sport but we don't see it that way," Montgomery said. "With the support of others we find ourselves going a lot faster. We can push each other harder, practice harder and perform better in meets."
According to Montgomery, the team is hoping to not only make a statement in conference but also be nationally ranked in the top 10 this season. Cohen thinks the upcoming DePauw Invitational will be crucial for the team.
"A lot of our goals will be defined by the results of this weekend. This weekend is a very telling weekend in telling us who we are and where we are," Cohen said. "Once we get to that point, we can redefine our goals for the rest of the season. But our No. 1 goal is always to train hard and have fun doing it."
The Tigers host the DePauw Invitational this weekend with seven other teams traveling to Greencastle. Preliminary races start Friday at 9:30 a.m. with finals set for 6:15 p.m. Saturday preliminaries begin at 9:30 a.m. with finals at 4:30 p.m.
