Head coach Sue Novitsky has one goal for her Illinois swimming and diving team on the road this weekend against Michigan State, Liberty and Oakland.

“We are looking to come out of the weekend 3-0,” Novitsky said. “We know it won’t be easy, but we will be able to win if we compete hard.”

The team was able to recover well at Monday’s practice after splitting the opening meet of the season against Eastern Michigan and Northwestern. The Illini look forward to the challenge of competing against another Big Ten team in East Lansing, Michigan this Friday.

“It’s always fun going against another Big Ten team,” senior Erica Lynn said. “There have been many close meets between the schools in the past seasons, which always makes make it even more exciting.”

The team continues to train hard as it works toward details, such as pace and endurance, to build on what Novitsky believes makes the difference in close meets, such as the one against Northwestern (Illini lost 166-133). Novitsky said hard work and attention must be a team effort for there to be success during the season.

“It can’t just be the top swimmers. We need everyone competing throughout the lineup,” Novitsky said.

This attention to detail is what makes the team’s practices always so competitive. The team enjoys competing against each other, even sometimes at record paces. Competition within the team during practice translates into positive results in a meet, Novitsky said.

“It’s good to get comfortable with speed and stroke so that when it comes time to compete, you are prepared and ready to go,” Lynn said.

As the routine gets more comfortable, so does the team. Although there are many different types of personalities on the team, most of these have consistent core values, which make it easy for them to respect each other. Each swimmer encourages the others during difficult times, helping push many towards success. The senior swimmers have taken the responsibility of being the leaders of the team very enthusiastically, Novitsky said.

“(The seniors) help set the example for the team,” she said. “They help show not to take a day off, show the importance of coming in each day and putting in your best work and get better each day. This will ultimately lead to a better swimmer.”

Novitsky also applauded the way the freshmen have adjusted to the collegiate form of swimming. Not just faced with the challenge of balancing athletics and academics, freshmen swimmers are also used to swimming in only a few events in high school, while each swimmer competes in many different races in college. The freshmen also get involved right away, which is different from other sports and is something they appreciate and look forward to.

“It’s always fun to get into the competition right away,” freshman Amelia Schilling said. “The team has really come together and we support each other, which is great.”

Michal can be reached at [email protected] and @bennythebull94.