BOWLING GREEN, Ky. -The WKU swimming team closes out the semester this weekend at the USA Swimming 2014 AT&T Winter National Championships on Dec. 4-6 in Greensboro, N.C., as some of the swimmers hit the pool against some of the best in the water.
"The idea was to get some of our NCAA-caliber swimmers around some better competition and let them see how they match up on a national scale at midseason," WKU Associate Head Coach Brian Thomas said. "More than anything, getting more exposure for us and being around some of the best high school-aged swimmers along with some collegiate teams, there is some good competition for us that way. Being matched up midseason with some of the best of the best will only help us come March."
WKU is sending five swimmers to the meet in Claire Conlon, Allie Duff, Nadine Laemmler, Tj Bland and Fabian Schwingenschlogl. The event begins Dec. 3 with relays, but WKU won't hit the water until Dec. 4. The first day's events include the 500 free, 200 IM and 50 free with prelims beginning at 8 a.m. CT. For ways to keep up with the meet, visit USASwimming.org. NBC will be airing the event on Sunday, Dec. 7 from 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. CT.
The team carries momentum with it into its halfway point of the year after both squads finished second at the Louisville Invite on Nov. 21-23. WKU was behind only host Louisville while ahead of UConn, Missouri State and SIU.
"We were pretty excited about the results that we had there," said Thomas. "Our goal going in was to place where we did, realistically, being second on both sides against a nationally-ranked Louisville team is great for us and beating a couple of AQ conference schools. We didn't make a lot of adjustments at the meet and didn't rest, so pretty good to put up some performances that will rank nationally. Really just come out and get good experience in the conference format, the NCAA format—it was good showing for us midseason. We were pretty happy with it.
"Again, I think our eyes are on Knoxville for the conference meet, and nothing is really said or done until we come home with a couple of conference championships."
Outside of those attending the AT&T Winter Nationals this weekend, multiple swimmers and divers had standout efforts at the Louisville Invite. Michelle Craddock in the 200 and 500 free continues to improve as the season goes along while Hannah Musser excelled in the 100 and 200 fly. On the boards, the lone men's diver Zach Batus had a stellar outing, including a fourth-place finish on platform.
Thomas also noted the women's 400 medley relay team did exceptionally well, breaking a school record on its way to a first-place finish while the men's team as a whole really came together to climb up the standings.
"For guys, not really resting for a meet makes it a little bit tougher for them to come up and race, but I was really proud of how they responded, especially the last two days of the meet," said Thomas. "They got up and really embraced a lot of opportunities to race. They had a little more of a dog fight in the team score and had to fight to get to second place, but really came together well from a team building perspective. More than anything it was a great environment for us as a team."
For all the latest news and information on WKU swimming and diving, visit WKUSports.com or follow the program on Twitter via @WKUSwimDive and @WKUDiving and by liking the team on Facebook through WKU Hilltopper Swimming and Diving.
