Georgetown’s swimming and diving teams have wrapped up their regular season and are headed to the Big East championship, which is set to take place this weekend and next week in Pittsburgh, Pa.
Head Coach Jamie Holder has consistently argued that his team’s talent should have resulted in more wins this season, and he is looking forward to seeing if the swimmers and divers can live up to those hopes in the coming days.
“I’m really excited to see how the team performs. I’m very optimistic about how they’re going to do,” Holder said. “I don’t think our dual-meet record really shows how good of a team we are, and I’m excited to see what they can do.”
Among those who consistently perform at their best is junior Paul Quincy. Last year, Quincy reached the finals of the 1650-yard freestyle, placing fourth with a time of 15:31.03 -– the best ever finish for a Georgetown swimmer.
This season, the Hoyas hope the rest of the squad steps up alongside Quincy, and Holder sees encouraging signs.
“Guys are starting to come around and starting to swim a little bit faster in practice and starting to feel good, and by next week they’ll be ready to perform at their best,” Holder said.
The Blue and Gray will also look to their talented freshmen in hopes of building on last season’s Big East finish.
“[The freshman class] has been used to [pressure] all year; they’ve been training hard,” senior captain Chris Finnegan said. “I think there’s a learning process throughout the year — adjusting to college swimming is a bit different than high school swimming, and I can attest to that.”
But Finnegan sees the Big East championship as both a daunting task an exiting opportunity for the freshmen to prove their worth.
“[The] first Big East [championship] is exciting, and I think this class of freshmen is particularly strong on our team. We’re a young team, and they’re definitely going to be some of the most helpful people we have there at [the] Big East [championship],” Finnegan said. “There’s a lot of pressure on them, and they’re expected to perform well. And I think they will. I think they’ll step up.”
They don’t have to step up much to improve on last year’s performance, which saw an eighth and 10th place finish for the men and women, respectively, out of 11 teams.
But Holder is optimistic that his team will improve in his second year of coaching.
“I think Louisville and Notre Dame are going to be the top dogs, and most likely Louisville will probably take it again, but we’re hoping that we can move up a few spots,” Holder said. “We can probably beat Cincinnati and UConn, especially on the guys’ side. I think we can move up a couple spots on the girls’ side as well. It all depends on how well we swim and how well they swim. Hopefully, we’ll perform better than they will. I’m excited to see what we can do.”
It’s not just Holder who is hoping for a better finish this season. The team’s seniors also hope to end their season with some of the best performances of the year.
“I’m sad it’s all over. I’ve been swimming for fourteen years ,from second grade on through middle school, high school and now college,” Finnegan said. “It’s really the end of [my] career, and I can just hope I go out with some of the best times I’ve ever had. I’m looking to swim fast and go off on a high note.”
The diving portion of the championship begins Friday and spans three days, while the swimming will begin next Thursday and continue until Feb. 18.
