Sports

Swimmers overcome rough weekend travel for 4 wins

By Curtis Kalleward GVL Staff Writer
1/24/2010

Grand Valley State University's men's and women's swimming and diving teams endured 11 hours of bus travel, little sleep and the fierce competition of back-to-back road meets to claim four victories this weekend.

The men and women defeated Hope College 199-92 and 192-103, respectively, late Friday in Holland. The athletes caught a few hours of rest before waking up early Saturday and heading south to take on the University of Indianapolis. The women sunk the Greyhounds 142.5-91.5 while the men won 162-78.

"We had a good few days of competition," said GVSU head coach Andy Boyce. "Some people are turning in their best times of the year."

The lack of proper rest Friday night and the amount of traveling on Saturday had the potential to harm the swimmers' abilities heading into Indianapolis, especially after having just raced the night before.

"The travel made it tough driving down to Indy after competing Friday night," Boyce said. "It was especially encouraging to see the long distance swimmers do well one night and then get right back up and do it again the next day."

Junior swimmer Kim Baughman said she felt the busy schedule did not hinder the performances of herself and her teammates, and said she could have handled staying on the road all night just as well.

"We're all used to traveling and we stay focused when we're at motels," she said. "It was nice to sleep in my own bed (Friday night), but sleeping in motels doesn't disrupt our performances."

Senior swimmer Matt Witkowski, however, had a different take on the situation. He reiterated Baughman's thoughts on staying focused, but added the hectic two days had begun to take its toll on the teams.

"It was a long weekend," he said. "Everyone was really tired after Hope because we got done so late Friday and we had to be right back on the bus Saturday morning. We were able to survive the travel and come away with some wins, but it always feels nicer to have a home meet instead of traveling so much."

The victory over Indianapolis concluded an undefeated season in the GLIAC for the men.

"We're happy to be done (for the season)," Witkowski said. "It feels good to be able to breathe for a moment. This sets us up better to go after one of our main goals from the beginning of the season, which was to win conferences. Going undefeated gives us momentum heading there."

The weekend meets marked the final time this season when both teams would be in the same pool. The women will host Northern Michigan University this weekend while the men have the weekend off.

"It was the last time that the men and women competed together, so it was really nice that we could win after traveling together all weekend," Baughman said. "Northern is part of our conference so we still take them seriously. We'll take the day off Sunday and then we'll go right back to full practices until after Northern."

Witkowski said the men will enjoy having a weekend off and spend it supporting their female compatriots.

"We're going to be there for the girls cheering for them, but we're still glad that we can just do a workout day on Saturday rather than competing," Witkowski said.

The men will not see action until the GLIAC Championships in two weeks.

ckalleward@lanthorn.com

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