Swimming and diving is usually considered an individual sport, but that’s not the case if you’re a Ute.
The Utah men’s and women’s swimming and diving team has spent the past several weeks working on establishing team chemistry.
“(Our focus is) just our team chemistry and learning how to compete,” said head coach Greg Winslow. “So in February and March we’re ready for it, and we’re ready to be a team instead of just a bunch of individuals.”
Although the athletes compete in events on an individual basis, all the points earned individually go toward a team score. Winslow said team chemistry is the biggest focus for the Utes this upcoming season.
“The only thing we’ve really focused on is team chemistry,” Winslow said. “Swimming kind of gets the rap for being an individual sport, but you’re only going to be as good as your teammate next to you in the pool every day. We’re trying to teach them that we can be competitive and still be friends at the same time.”
Competitiveness in the group is something the coaching staff has seen early on from both the men’s and women’s teams.
Winslow said he was impressed with the competitiveness the team showed last week in the annual alumni meet.
“What we saw was a competitive nature that we haven’t had in the past,” Winslow said. “It actually mattered if they won the alumni meet, instead of just swimming back and forth.”
With the meet behind them, the Utes have been working on preparing the newcomers for this weekend’s freshmen and sophomore meet against rival BYU.
“We’re trying to give them as much experience racing as possible,” Winslow said. “Any time we can get them in a race situation so they can learn to handle the stress of what it’s like swimming four events in two hours and handling that pressure, I think it’s a great way to start the season.”
Winslow said that based on what he saw last week in the alumni meet, he’s expecting several of the newcomers to have breakout seasons this year.
“Karson Applin and Bjorn Gunnarsson could be scary good this Friday,” Winslow said. “On the women’s side, all six freshman could do some really amazing things, especially Ellis Walters on boards. She pulled off one of the toughest dives I’ve ever seen just to get us out of practice last week. Those are the three to watch.”
Last season, Utah came up short of expectations with the women finishing in third place and the men finishing in sixth place. Although the women have a tradition of being the better half of the team, a large recruiting class on the men’s side could help balance it.
Twelve freshman men from 10 different states and one from another country were added to the team during the offseason.
“If nothing else, we have a lot of diversity, but a lot of talent,” Winslow said. “Our upperclassmen are ready to lead and they know what I need and what I want from them. I think we could be really good.”