Miranda Smith, Campus Carrier Sports Editor

The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams are already deep into their 2018-2019 seasons with four meets under their sleeve and the Viking Fall Fest Invitational coming up in the coming weeks.

Both the teams have competed against Centre College, Emmanuel College, Savannah College of Art and Design, and Sewanee: The University of the South so far this season. The team is preparing for more invitationals in the future.

Senior Justin Gynther described the team this year as having a strong team camaraderie, with the freshmen assimilating well with the returning swimmers and divers.

“The team has done good so far with meets and getting times that they should be getting at this point in the season,” Gynther said. “I think the training has been a little harder this year and we’re starting getting more recovery practices than last year. With those two things put together, I think we’ll see a lot of improvement this year and a few school records broken.”

Gynther spoke highly of the newcomers and the freshmen, and even with the loss of the seniors and the other roster changes, the team is looking up this year. As a senior, Gynther sees the leadership as coming from of the upperclassmen and from self-motivation, with everyone looking to push themselves to improve on their times.

Senior Leigh Hadaway said the team is setting goals for themselves and for the team, to go as far as they have before or even further in the season and conference. The team is looking up with strong additions and new personalities to fill roles within the team.

“Last year, the women’s team placed top three at conference, so we really want that to be a benchmark for this upcoming year,” Hadaway said. “With that goal, we want to use every meet as an opportunity to get up and race, and push ourselves in season so that we are ready in February.”

Hadaway also talked about the team’s winter training trip in December. With established relationships and trust on and off the water, Hadaway is excited to see how the team will improve in the second semester. Hadaway, being the only female senior, described the leadership from the senior class to be strong, and sees the freshmen already proving themselves as competitive contenders in the conference.

The Berry men’s and women’s swim and dive team is hopeful for the future of the season with their most recent win against conference rival Sewanee last weekend. Hadaway and Gynther see the team pushing off with momentum for the rest of the semester and for winter training.