The men’s and women’s swim teams have both finished their regular seasons after an intense matchup this past weekend at Whitworth. It was a difficult matchup, with Whitworth gunning for revenge after losing to Whitman last year in the NWC Championship. Unfortunately, neither the men’s nor the women’s team were able to come away with a win.

The season has been a full one, with several twists and turns for both teams. Each team has faced its fair share of adversity and has fought through it brilliantly. The women’s conference was shaken up with graduations and increased recruiting efforts throughout. Senior Logan Gomez spoke to the roller coaster that this past year has been for the women’s team.

“We’ve been hit with a few surprises…usually we can kind of predict where we’ll be in the conference, but a few teams in the conference have really stepped up,” Gomez said.

Head Swimming Coach Jen Blomme shared similar thoughts.

“I think we’ve seen some really interesting changes in the conference. Some of the schools that have been at the top in the last couple of years, including Whitman, are still performing at a really high level,” she said. “But some of the schools that have been finishing lower at the conference level have been making a surge upwards.”

Despite the unanticipated difficulty and strength of conference opponents, the women’s team has maintained its unity and resilience.

“The women’s team has done a really good job at taking these curve balls and making [them] into something positive,” Gomez said.

The men’s team has a similar story–competition has increased in their conference as well. A major difference for them coming into this year was the graduation of national champion Karl Mering. Coach Blomme spoke to the loss of Mering from the team as one reason behind the relatively down year.

“The men’s team graduated some huge seniors last year. We just graduated the most accomplished swimmer that Whitman’s ever had: a national champion and an all-American for four years,” Blomme said. “When you have a talent like that, and they move on, it’s really interesting to see–can other people rise, and fill those shoes?”

The answer seems to be yes. Senior Robby Dorn seems to be confident about his teammates’ abilities despite losing strong swimmers from the team.

“We lost three pretty sizable point scorers, including Karl, but a lot of people have actually stepped up. A bunch of the sophomore guys have been working really hard to make up [for the loss and] a lot of freshman coming in have proven themselves to be a force,” he said. “I’ve been really happy with the way that people have approached this season because last year there were some times when we [heavily relied] on some of the seniors, but now it has become a very collective effort.”

Now, both teams have their eyes towards the post-season and the NWC Championship which will take place from Feb. 11 through Feb. 14 at Pacific Lutheran University. After the final meet this past weekend, the men’s team is heading into the championships with a 6-1 record and the women’s team with a 3-4.

The increased competition around the conference will surely make things interesting.

“It’s going to be a really fun and exciting championship, with less predictability,” Coach Blomme said. “There is no sure thing; it’s good sports! You don’t want to know the outcome before you walk in the door.”

Also, a change this season has been the lack of expectation that came with last year’s season.

“Last year it sort of seemed like we were on top the whole time. It was not necessarily expected that we would win, but we were some of the favorites. This year, who is going to win on the men’s side is a lot more blurred,” Dorn said.

It’s equally blurry on the women’s side. The team has now begun their taper period, during which they start to ease off the intensity to let their muscles recover and develop for the Championships.

“From what I’ve seen in the past, [the meet against Whitworth] is not going to shake our confidence, and it’s not going to change our expectations for how we need to perform going into conference. We are a really good taper team,” Gomez said.

This is going to be a very special meet for several swimmers.

“Especially this year, our seniors have had a really strong presence on the team,” Gomez said. “For most of us, this will be the last swim meet of our career…It’s been most of our lives, and we’re going into this, like…well, this is it! There’s really no reason to not give it our all!”