Practices in the morning, practices in the evening, practices on the weekends.
Swimmers at Duke must be dedicated to the pool from early in September, when the first practices begin, until February, when the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament ends. They are at the pool by 6:30 a.m., and then have to return to the water for another round of practices at 4 p.m. Unlike many of the colleges in the ACC, Duke offers no scholarships for swimmers-these Blue Devils are purely self-motivated.
"Your teammates motivate you," senior Ellen Gawalt said. "You have to have a love and desire for the sport."
This season's practices started off much faster than in previous years. Instead of focusing on drills and stroke work, Duke coach Bob Thompson opted to increase yardage. Due to the school calendar, the swim season got started late, so the workouts had to become more intense more quickly. The workouts blend well with the intensity of the Blue Devils themselves.
"The intensity is pretty high," co-captain Phil Borden said. "The first month we were going really hard."
This increased focus can be attributed to this year's freshmen swimmers. The Blue Devils are counting on the class of 2000 to step up and fill some of the spaces left by last year's graduating seniors. Megan Kavanaugh, Robin Hutchison, Brendan McGil, and Cleve May are just a few of Duke's rising stars. Thompson says that all four turned out impressive performances against Maryland. For example, Kavanaugh won the 200-meter breaststroke in her first meet as a Blue Devil.
The Blue Devil captains for the 1996-97 season are Phil Borden, Tim Wood, Whitney Greene and Sue Kresel. Thompson says that all four are good leaders, and that this year's senior class is very strong-the women are perhaps the most gifted class he has ever seen at Duke.
Both the men's and the women's teams should be competitive in all events. The women are particularly strong in sprints, while the men are very deep in the middle distances. Overall, the Blue Devils are very well-balanced.
Because the scholarship policy of the university makes it difficult to recruit nationally-ranked athletes, Duke tends to struggle against schools in the ACC. The Blue Devils' big meets come against East Carolina, UNC-Wilmington, and Davidson. Borden says that these are all meets Duke must win, as those meets are how the Blue Devils determine the success of their season.
Over Christmas break, Duke travels to Florida to join 64 other swim teams from across the nation for a two-week long training session. While in Florida, the Blue Devils spend four hours a day swimming, but they also get time to just relax.
"The team gets better rest, better sleep and much competition," Thompson said.
The trip to Florida also proves to be beneficial in preparing for the ACC Championships. Last year, the championships came soon after the trip, but this year Duke has plenty of time to utilize the extra training-there is a month of competition separating the Florida trip and the ACC Tournament.
The time spent in Florida also brings the Blue Devils closer together as a team. Swimming tends to be an individual sport, but not for the Blue Devils.
"We consider ourselves a team," co-captain Tim Wood said. "[However], it comes out more against our rivals."
The Blue Devils have simple goals for the season. Thompson says they just want to get better-they want to make their individual times better and swim faster than last year. Duke hopes these goals will be easy to achieve with its core of experienced upperclassmen and a strong supporting cast of freshmen.
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