The Cornell men’s swimming and diving team is looking forward to a weekend of high-level competition, although the squad will be split up. One segment of the team will travel to the Zippy Invitational in Akron, Ohio, and the rest will compete at the Bomber Invitational, closer to home at Ithaca College.
“We are not able to travel our entire squad to Akron this weekend, so we will have a group of athletes competing at the Ithaca college meet this weekend also,” said head men’s swim coach Wes Newman. “Those swimmers and divers will also have a great opportunity to compete in a positive atmosphere and show the coaching staff what they are capable of. We are looking forward to seeing the performances from both Ithaca College and Akron this weekend.”
The team is looking forward to its first time at the Zippy Invite, where it expects to clock some of the fastest times of the season thus far, with the combined forces of facing strong competition and entering the competition well-rested.
“We are looking forward to seeing who has the biggest improvements, but I know that as a team there will be some fast swims, both individually and with relays,” Newman said. “This will be a competitive meet where our swimmers will be able to compete hard and race competitive teams they have never faced before.”
The meets this weekend will be the team’s last opportunity to showcase its fitness before taking a hiatus from competition over winter break, when it will travel to Florida for a team training trip. The team will return to competition on Jan. 15 at home against Columbia.
The Zippy Invite will be an especially exciting opportunity for the team as a new and highly competitive atmosphere for racing right around the halfway point in the season in terms of Cornell’s competition schedule.
“The Zippy Invite will be a lot more competitive than previous meets that we’ve done around this time of the year,” said junior Ryan Sharkey. “Everyone’s happy because you only get to go super fast and shave down and everything twice a season and this is one of those opportunities”
The segment of the team traveling to Akron aims to take full advantage of its experience at the Zippy Invite, while the rest of the team will maintain an equally competitive mindset at the more familiar atmosphere of Ithaca College. The team as a whole hopes to log some impressive performances to close out the first half of its season.
“This will be the first competition this season that we have approached with some rest, which will allow guys to race much faster,” Newman said. “The team is excited to see where they are at and are looking forward to some fast swims.”
Both the Zippy and Bomber Invites will begin tomorrow and continue through Sunday. The Zippy Invite will take place at the Ocasek Natatorium in Akron and the Bomber Invite will be held at Ithaca College’s Athletics & Events Center Aquatics Pavilion.