This upcoming weekend, on Saturday, the Cornell men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams will head into the water at Teagle for the first competition of the season going up against Dartmouth and Harvard. The divers for the men will begin at 9:30 a.m., followed by the women. The swimmers will take the water at 1:45 p.m. for the women and at 4:30 p.m for the men. Both teams are looking forward to the upcoming seasonto establish a stronger presence in the Ivy League. Coming off of a difficult season last year, the men’s team looks to position themselves back at the top of the league. A win this weekend could establish a positive momentum going into the rest of the season. Sophomore freestyle swimmer Timothy Satterthwaite when asked about Dartmouth and Harvard said, “Its our chance to get a little revenge for our first defeat to Dartmouth in 35 years last year. Harvard has always been quite fast, however there will definitely be some good races.” For Statterthwaite, this race will be unique in the fact that he will be racing his older brother who swims for Harvard. The team has made significant developments in the preseason and hopes that this effort made leading up to the season will help this Saturday. “We have put in a lot of effort both in the pool and in the gym. Every person has given their all in practice and I think the team is ready to compete and wants to perform well,” said sophomore diver Thomas Hallowell. With a new training regimen and strong leadership, the Red looks to start the season with a win over Ivy rivals.On the women’s front, the Red looks for the chance to open the season at home positively. “Having our season opener be at home is a big advantage for us and we are very excited as a team” said junior freestyle swimmer Melissa Mrozinski. The Red has had strong improvement recently, in part due to a wide variety of new talent in the freshman class. “The team started preparing for this meet from the very first day of preseason and at the team meetings in August … We have been working extremely hard both in the pool and in the weight room to try and improve and prepare for competition,” Mrozinski said. “Opening up with one of our more anticipated meets will be really good to start off the season, as it gives us a good baseline to work from,” said Satterthwaite. “This race give us a chance to make a statement in the Ivy League,” Hallowell said.
Original Author: John McGrorty