Most students have a difficult time just waking up to make it to their 8 a.m. classes, so getting up at 5:30 a.m. on a Saturday to go for a swim would seem almost impossible.

But couple that with having just competed in a swimming meet the night before and having another looming in the next couple hours, and such is the life of a member of the Illinois swimming and diving team.

In order to keep the team active and prepared for the second meet of a two-meet weekend, coaches have all team members participate in what they call a “wake-up swim.”

“We have wake-up swims on the day of the second meet,” said senior Kristen Kloeckner, who is one of the team’s seven captains. “(The second day) is a pretty tough turnaround, but it’s a good tool to prepare us for the bigger meets.”

This weekend the Illini are traveling to Illinois State for a 5 p.m. meet Friday and will have a quick turnaround, competing in Carbondale, Ill., against Southern Illinois on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Weekends with back-to-back meets can be especially hard on the team.

“It affects our recovery, and we have to remember that recovery is also part of the training process,” head coach Sue Novitsky said. “It’s a good test for our athletes.”

A year after finishing last in the Big Ten, the Illini enter this weekend at 4-1 and feel they are much improved after a offseason of hard work.

“I definitely think we really stepped up our training, and a lot of people have grown up,” said Kloeckner. “They’re not holding back.”

Novitsky also sees that the team is working hard.

“We just remind them, repetition always helps. Now they are beginning to see it in their races,” said Novitsky. “People are pushing the best practice times and starting to improve.”

Unlike most other sports teams, the swimming and diving team has a group of seven captains.

“We formed a leadership committee with seven seniors,” Novitsky said. “Because the team is so large, I didn’t want the pressure to be on only one or two people. This helps to diffuse it; we have a good, solid front.”

One of the standouts for the diving team has been freshman Lauren Wismer.

Despite competing just three times due to injury, she has already captured the school record in both of her events, the one-meter and three-meter dives.

“My goal was to set them,” said Wismer, who will compete this weekend. “But I didn’t expect to break them this fast.”

Going into the season, Wismer’s goals were simply to qualify for NCAA zones — the qualifying rounds before the NCAA Championships — but now she has her sights set higher.

“I want to qualify for the actual NCAA Championships,” Wismer said.

“I take it day by day. I look at technique and the individual dives,” Wismer added.