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2009-10 Season Preview
The 2008-2009 season was the most successful in Coach Brownley's tenure and arguably in school history. Highlights from the 2008-2009 season saw the women's team finishing the season ranked 15th in the country, which was the Colonels' highest ranking in school history. The men finished the season receiving multiple votes for top 25.
The swim and dive team finished with a dual meet record of 15-2 for the women and the men finished the season 8-6. The women's only loss of the first semester came to Vanderbuilt in the first meet of the season. Second semester's loss came to Wittenberg which proved to be a turning point for both men and women. Coach Brownley remembers the Wittenberg loss saying, "It was a wake up call for us. We came into that meet ranked and thinking we were better than we were. They outperformed us in every aspect of the meet and inspired us to finish the season strong."
During the SCAC Championships the men finished 3rd and the women finished 2nd. The team broke 27 school records and won 16 of the 40 events. Eleven individuals and seven relays made provisional national cuts, the most cuts ever made by a Colonel squad. The women’s team took a relay to the NCAA Championships in Minnesota, which was another first for the Colonels. The 200 medley relay finished 14th in the nation, earning them All-American Honorable Mention. Lis Starr qualified for nationals in the 100 and 200 butterfly, making her a graduating 4-time All-American.
For 2009-2010 the team will be in a rebuilding mode. Losing seven seniors that scored a combined 7571 points during their career will be hard to replace.
“This year’s team has all of the pieces in place to be every bit as good as last year, but the underclassmen will have to play a big role,” says Coach Brownley. “We do have a great group returning and good freshmen coming in. The women’s team returns ¾ of their All-American medley relay with the men returning half of their record-breaking relay members from last year.”
Some returning swimmers and divers to keep an eye on this year are Hunter Owen, Aaron Edwards, Will Jenkins, Hunter Hayes, and Brent Bowman. All of these men were All-Conference performers in the 2008-2009 season. All four freshmen men will also make a solid impact right away for the Colonels.
On the women’s side, returning swimmers to watch for are Meredith Angel, Colleen Maggard, Amber Lyvers, Sadie Allen, Lauren Gates, and Trinity Hochstetler. With such a large, freshmen women’s class, it is hard to single out one or two as major incoming contributors. All of the women bring different talents and abilities to the table.
Big meets for the Colonels this season include the opening meet at Washington and Lee on October 17th, the Western Kentucky Invitational (November 20-22), and the SCAC Conference Championships in Louisville (February 17-20). The WKU meet will be a three-day prelims-finals meet that closes out the fall semester portion of the season. Centre Swimming and Diving also looks forward to co-hosting the SCAC Championships for the first time at the University of Louisville Ralph Wright Natatorium.
As for hopes for the upcoming season, Coach Brownley wants to keep the trend of making the program more recognizable on the national level. The Colonels also hope to be in the hunt for an SCAC Championship.
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