The Terrapin men’s swimming and diving team’s bus trip to Annapolis will probably feel a little bit different today.
For one, the team will step off the bus and onto the Naval Academy’s grounds for a Tuesday meet that will begin at 4 p.m. and conclude with the sun probably just below the horizon – a far cry from its standard late morning meets.
For another, the bus’s cabin itself will be conspicuously sparser and probably quieter than on previous trips. That’s because this week the men’s team will go at it alone against Navy’s men’s swimming and diving team.
“It’s a little out of the ordinary,” coach Sean Schimmel said, noting that he’s modified the men’s side’s practice schedule to account for the unusual meet day and forthcoming finals. “It really shouldn’t affect us at all. We’ll go in there and get it done just as if it was a Saturday afternoon.”
They’ll need to get it done as soon as they hit the pool against Navy. The Midshipmen are undefeated this season and have fared comparably against similar opponents as the Terrapins.
Against Johns Hopkins, Navy took the meet 140-117. The Terps won 167-105one week later on Oct. 24. Against UMBC on Oct. 25, Navy prevailed by a score of 169-126. Three weeks later, the Terps triumphed over the Retrievers, 163-135. To complete their sweep of the Maryland schools, Navy will need a complete effort.
“We’re not rested. We’re not shaved. We’ve got our work cut out for us,” Schimmel said. “We’re working towards rebuilding our program and over the next couple of years we’ll be getting the depth that we need to be competitive within our conference and against teams like Navy. I think, head-to-head, we’ll have some great battles and we’ll see where the final score leaves us.”
The Terps probably won’t have one-track minds heading into their meet. It’s that time of the year where finals and culminating papers begin to dominate locker room talk, workloads reach their boiling point and the demands of a student-athlete’s world become nearly unmanageable.
Still, Schimmel believes team members are more concerned with taking care of business in Annapolis than, say, taking care of their business class project.
“We’re at a spot in the season where a lot of our things are coming up on them. I think, overall, they’re doing a good job handling the training and everything else that’s going on,” Schimmel said. “I think that will show up in terms of week-in and week-out preparation. They’re going to bring that right into the meet in terms of getting themselves to go fast.”
Even if it is a Tuesday afternoon.
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