By Andrew Nelson, Contributor
The Omaha swim and dive team kicked off their season last Friday night by hosting the annual Red/Black Alumni meet. The bulk of their season will begin on Oct. 11 in Lincoln against the Cornhuskers. The Mavericks are a very young team this year, comprised of all freshmen beside the lone senior leader Jenna Foiles.
Foiles, an Albuquerque, New Mexico native, returns this year as a specialist in the backstroke and fly. She recorded a team and personal best in the 200 fly last season with a time of 2:09.80. Foiles was also a member of the third place 200 medley relay team last year at the Summit League Championships.
Omaha’s swim team had six of its members on the All-League Swim Team last season including Foiles. To make the team, each swimmer had to finish in the top three times of their respected event at the championships. The Omaha swim and dive team has experienced success before and should continue too in the future with such a young team.
This past weekend showcased the young Mavericks who are about to make collegiate appearances in the pool for the first time this fall and winter. This year’s roster contains 13 freshmen in addition to Foiles.
Freshmen Logan Black, Kaitlin Harthoorn, Bailey Kneip and Maren Rincon will take over the freestyle category for graduated Natalie Renshaw, who was also an All-League Swim team member last season.
Backstroke specialists this season will consist of freshman Hilary Schieffer and Foiles.
Breaststroke specialists this season are freshmen Chloe Kuehner, Olivia McLain and Cali Yancey. Samantha Stark, Kendra Lair and Cassandra Jahn will take over fly duties, and freshman Monica Houck takes over diving this season.
Individual medley participants this season will be freshmen Olivia McLain, Calli Yancey, Harthoorn, Schieffer and Stark. Individual medley uses all four of the competitive strokes on consecutive lengths of the race. The order of strokes are: butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle. Just like the other races, the three distances offered are 100, 200 and 300 meters.
This is a very diverse swim and dive team, which was put together to consist of swimmers from all over the country. From hometowns in Maryland to Arizona, as well as a few Nebraskans, this year’s team is anticipating a chance to show UNO what their sport is all about.
Be sure to catch the Mavericks in the pool this season at one of their four home meets. These meets are Oct.13 against Kansas, Nov. 15 against South Dakota State and Dec. 13 against Northern Iowa. Additionally, the Mutual of Omaha Invite, hosted by the University of Nebraska at Omaha, will take place at the Health, Physical Education and Recreation pool on the weekend of Dec. 5 and 6. Participating teams are still to be determined.
