Women’s swim team looks ahead after loss to Nova

The women’s swim team hosted and fell to no. 3 Nova Southeastern in their fourth Sunshine State Conference opponent of the season.

The meet, which took place on Nov. 4, was competitive but ultimately ended 159-93. Taylor Wilks ‘18, NCAA championship qualifier in 2017, was the only first place win of the day. Wilks finished the 100-yard breaststroke, her speciality, in a time of 1:08.71, a full 15 seconds ahead of her Nova competitor.

Maya Thompson ‘21, a Bahamas native; Cara Dealy ‘20 from Temecula, Calif.; and Hannah Brockman ‘21 from St. Petersburg, Fla. all took second place finishes. Thompson competed in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle sprints while Dealy swam the 200- and 100-yard Butterfly events.

Brockman, a new member of the team, regularly competes in the Medley relay, but instead took second in the 100-yard backstroke.

Wilks currently holds three individual records for the 100- and 200-yard breaststrokes and 100-yard medley. She also holds three relay records in the 200-yard freestyle, 200-yard medley, and 400-yard medley relays. Wilks placed 25th at the NCAA national championship last year.

Wilks looks to break two more individual records and qualify for the NCAA national championship in the 100-yard breaststroke again this season.

When it comes to the entire team, Wilks explained they have four specific goals: every student athlete achieves a personal record at the conference championship meet, qualify at least four athletes at the NCAA D2 national championships, improve team finish ranking one spot at the conference championships (sixth for women, fifth for men), and surpass the team GPA (3.52 for women, 3.43 for men).

While the team is very specific on their goals, they have fallen 0-5 so far this season.

When asked about how the team works to improve this record, Wilks said, “This season, we aren’t heavily focused on winning dual meets, our end goal is to improve our ranking as a team at the end of the season at the conference championship.”

She went on to emphasize that every meet is a learning experience and opportunity to try different race strategies and prepare for the end of the season. “For the rest of the season, we will take each meet one at a time and focus strictly on the small details,” she emphasized.

The team looks to improve their record when they travel to Lakeland, Fla. to face SCC rival Florida Southern on Nov. 10. This will be the next meet before the team travels to Savannah, Ga. for the SCAD Invitational from Nov. 30 to Dec. 2.