With three weeks in between its latest competitions, the Georgetown swimming and diving team has been granted ample training time to improve upon its loss to the Drexel Dragons on Jan. 21. This weekend, the team travels to face the Providence Friars for the team’s last tune-up before the Big East Championships.
The meet marks the Hoyas’ first and only one-on-one meet with a conference opponent. The change of pace in practice has reflected the shift in team mentality.
“We’ve reached the point in our season where we’re focused a lot more on speed,” Head Coach Jack Leavitt said. “We did a lot of work throughout the year building up our endurance as much as we possibly can, and now we’re just trying to swim as fast as we possibly can.”
Senior and team captain Will Leach echoed Leavitt’s statements and emphasized a greater attention to detail — touching up and refining certain techniques to prepare for the postseason.
“We’re looking much more at the details than we are the big picture and overall times,” Leavitt said.
Last year, both the men’s and women’s teams defeated Providence at home, but Leavitt says the focus this year is on technique and precision rather than the final result.
“The final time and even overall score isn’t necessarily as important as if we are doing the right things in our races in terms of getting in and out of our turns, getting off the blocks well, power, pacing our races,” Leavitt said. “Things like that are going to be much more important because ultimately this is a dress rehearsal for the Big East Championship at the end of the season.”
Georgetown has spent much of the season competing against tough, nonconference opponents to prepare for the Big East championship. The Hoyas have not raced against a Big East foe since the fall semester.
“We haven’t swum against a Big East opponent since November, so we are really excited to get back and see if we’ve done enough of the right kind of stuff to be there at the end of the conference,” said Leavitt.
The team anticipates the overnight trip to be both a bonding experience and a chance to compare themselves with other athletes within the conference.
“We are focusing on what we need to get done and using it as an opportunity to race in every aspect while focusing on the little things,” Leavitt said of the team’s weekend road trip. “It’s a chance to race a good opponent while looking forward to the Big East.”
The competition this weekend also affords Georgetown an opportunity to fine tune its relay races and perfect its starts.
“We are making sure we are really good at exchanges. Those are the biggest amount of points at Big East and disqualifications there are detrimental,” Leach said “Everyone has just really worked so hard this season. All of the races are going to be fun to watch, to see what we have done.”
The meet takes place in Providence, R.I., and is scheduled to start Saturday morning at 10 a.m.
