KRISTEN HALL | staff writer
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courtesy of APU Athletics
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| Sophomore KAYLEN HEWKO won the 200 freestyle, 500 freestyle and 100 butterfly in a dual meet against Biola earlier this month. |
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Leading a new swim team is a daunting task. And if recruiting swimmers and divers, locating a place and time to practice, and finding meets and invitationals to compete in doesn’t prove challenging enough, there is always the actual task of winning with a team that has never competed together before.
For Head Coach Robert Fleming, leading the brand-new swimming and diving team to success has never been a chore, but has brought him great enjoyment.
“It’s exciting at times,” Fleming said, “You are making something out of nothing but we have still done a lot better than teams that are more established.”
With a long successful season coming to a close, the team is still swimming strong.
At the Pacific Coast Swim Conference last week, the team outperformed established swim programs at other schools, some of which have been around for more than 10 years.
Out of the six National Association for Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) schools that went to the conference, the Cougars finished third.
“Cal Baptist and Concordia were [first and second] and we ended up in third then Biola and East Bay,” Coach Fleming, “Some of our girls did really well in individual events and we now have 11 swimmers going to nationals.”
Freshman swimmer Shawna Barnett, who competes in the 50 freestyle, 100 butterfly, and 200 butterfly thinks that this meet has not just been a success in the pool but has also brought everyone closer as a team.
“At conference we’re all in a hotel as a team and it has really given us a chance to bond and become closer as a team,” Barnett said.
Top scorers at the event include the 800 freestyle medley team, which consists of Karla Hill, Stacey Wong, Janelle Stacey, and Kaylen Hewko which finished 11th and Kelly Burda finished second in diving.
“This meet was a higher level of competition than we’re used to,” Barnett said, “We were with B-1 schools but still half our girls made it to finals. The Times were really fast, it was intense.”
Another major accomplishment the team has had this year is defeating Biola University 126-103 at a dual meet on Saturday, Feb. 7.
“Our divers are really the backbone of our team and they pulled through for us at that meet,” Coach Fleming said, “We had a couple of injuries and without our divers we would have lost by one, but with diving scores we won by 25.”
Assistant Coach Lauri Marsh thinks the victory was a big step for the program because Biola is an older, more experienced program.
“[Biola] has been around for ten years longer than us, our divers really put us over the edge at that meet,” Marsh said.
“It was the most difficult meet we’ve had,” said Barnett said, “It was outside and it was raining but despite the conditions everyone swam their best and we did really well.”
Top scorers at the dual meet against Biola, included Kaylen Hewko who won three events: the 200 freestyle, 500 freestyle and 100 butterfly other winners include Karla Hill in the 1650 freestyle, Kelly Burda in diving, and Stacey Wong in the 100 backstroke.
With all this under their belt, the team is looking to do well at the NAIA nationals in Saint Peters, Mo. from Wednesday, March 4 to Saturday, March 7.
“With it being our first season we are just looking to hopefully crack top ten,” Fleming said, “We have 11 swimmers who qualified and as a new program I think it is a reasonable goal but we will have to work hard to accomplish it.”
Azusa hopes for a successful finish at nationals will be the cherry on top of a long, successful season.
“We would like to go out there and do well in the relays we’re a new team so we aren’t in super deep but we want to represent the university in a positive way,” said Marsh, “It’s a long season we’ve been going since September so its hard to stay on your game but we should perform well.”
Once nationals are over the team hopes to look toward improving the program next year.
“We hope to get more depth in all our events, more swimmers and more practice,” Coach Fleming said, “It’s a long season so we hope to work harder on keeping our athletes mentally fresh. It’s hard to have a season lasting from September all to way to the second weekend in March.”
Finishing the season with several unexpected victories and with a decent finish at conference, this young team strives to get better with time.
