There is only one word to describe the feeling the coaches and players have for the upcoming swimming and diving season: excited.

Not only are the Illini swimmers optimistic about the upcoming season, but thanks to the completed renovations of the Activities and Recreation Center (ARC), the team now has the chance to host its first home meet in four years.

“It’s really exciting because our friends who aren’t on the swim team are always like, ‘When can we come see you swim?'” senior swimmer Katie Theissen said. “So it will be really nice to have people come see us swim.”

Illinois will host four meets at ARC this season and freshman swimmer Brittany McGowan couldn’t be more ecstatic about it.

“Especially because it’s my first college meet ever,” McGowan said. “It will be really cool to be at our home pool … especially since it’s the pool opener.”

Though the newly renovated pool at ARC offers Illinois the chance to compete at home, it also provides the swimming and diving team with something else it has been craving – a sense of team solidarity and regularity.

“We had to travel a lot for practice times,” Theissen said. “My sophomore year we would travel to Illinois Wesleyan, an hour away, at eight o’clock at night on Friday nights, so to have a schedule again where we have practice in the morning and practice in the afternoon is nice. The past two year years our practice times have been split up so we haven’t had team practices together everyday, which I think is essential to have team bonding.”

Head coach Sue Novitsky agrees that the newly renovated facility will provide the team a smoother practice schedule.

“There’s still a lot of work going on in it, we’re just happy to be in there,” Novitsky said. “We have more space in the water and on the deck area so it makes our practicing a lot easier. Plus we get to train at the same time as the divers and the whole team gets to train at the same time, so we’re together as a group which makes working on the team aspect a lot easier.”

This year the team opens its season at home, swimming against the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Oct. 10. Last year, the Illini fell to the Cornhuskers, 172-126, finishing in first place seven times during the 16 events in a close season opener in Lincoln, Neb.

“I think they’re getting excited to defend their home turf and have Nebraska come in,” Novitsky said. “It was a pretty tight meet last year and we expect it to be the same this year. So, it’s exciting.”

And the nine-year head coach hopes it will be exciting for the fans as well.