Every swimmer has goals at the beginning of a season.
For many of the Ashland University swimmers, those goals involve finishing highly at the 2015 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championships. The GLIACs, set for Jenison, Mich., will be Wednesday through Saturday (Feb. 11-14), and will culminate in the crowning of the conference team champion on both the men's and women's sides.
"I'm really excited to see what we can do at the GLIAC Championships now that we've put everything together," said first-year Ashland head coach Derick Roe. "We're swimming really well right now, and I can't wait to get started on Wednesday."
A season ago, junior Hannah Mattar took home the GLIAC title in both the 400 individual medley (4:21.04) and the 200 breaststroke (2:14.18). Each of those times broke the old conference records. Mattar will look to repeat and head back to the NCAA Division II national meet for a third consecutive year.
Roe also is excited for some of the underclassman swimmers going into the championships this weekend.
"I think some of our younger members have a real shot to finish strong and springboard themselves into the national scene if they have the swims that I know they are fully capable of," he said.
One of those underclassmen is sophomore Greg Walters, who returns having been a part of the 200 and 400 medley relays that both made trips to nationals a year ago.
The GLIAC Championships will begin at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday. Tickets can be purchased at the door, or at www.gvsutickets.com. The doors open one hour prior to the start of the first event.
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