Continuing a legacy for one last season
JMU men’s swim team ranked 21st among mid-majors
By Tim Chapman, staff writer
Posted on January 16, 2007

As the JMU men’s swim and dive team finished its warm-down at Thursday evening’s practice, the mood in Savage Natatorium was calm, but serious. There wasn’t a lot of encouraging banter or shouting, but rather a sense of desire that superseded any need for such motivational tactics.

The team, which was cut along with nine other varsity programs on Sept. 29 (taking effect July 1, 2007), has gone into its last season with a chip on its shoulder, but you wouldn’t know it by the swimmers’ demeanors.

“Going into the first meet I would have said, yeah, the decision affected us,” senior captain Mitch Dalton said. “But really, we just want to win because we’re competitive.”

Dalton would be on his way to a dual-meet at Delaware when the Board of Visitors reconvened Friday for a closed session after the Save Our Sports coalition gave a presentation, only to announce that it was sticking with its previous decision. With the issue no longer up for debate, Dalton and fellow captain and classmate Josh Fowler agreed that there was only one thing left to do to cement the legacy of Madison’s men’s swimming — win the conference.

“The team is really an alumnus-based program,” Dalton said. “The team understands the history of the program and how we usually do well at conferences.”

The alumni the two captains spoke so fondly of included members of past teams who contributed to an impressive stretch in which the program won nine Colonial Athletic Association titles in the 10-year span between 1992 and 2001. Madison swimming has also produced 24 individual conference champions and three NCAA qualifiers.

“We swim hard through the whole year for that one meet and I feel like we train the hardest,” Fowler said. “And we’re one of the only teams in the country who doesn’t have money.”

Funding for the team was cut following the 2001 season, which made it harder to recruit top swimmers without being able to offer scholarships. The Dukes have stayed competitive over the last five years without scholarship athletes and were ranked 21st in the nation this season, among Division I Mid-Majors, according to CollegeSwimming.com.

In the 2005-‘06 season, first-year coach Chris Feaster coached then-freshman Russell Smyth to a championship in the 200 breaststroke. Smyth was later named the CAA Rookie of the Year. Feaster had two other swimmers place in the meet and diver Kyle Knott improved on two 14th-place finishes in the previous year to place eighth and ninth.

“It’s got nothing to do with competitiveness of the sports,” Dalton said of the Title IX decision.

Although its record stands at a modest 4-3 in dual meets this season, the team feels that its best scoring ability is in the conference-style scoring. At the Nike Cup, the Dukes finished ahead of two Big East teams and one from the ACC. While the captains recognize the “stick it to ‘em” attitude of their younger teammates, they are hoping to channel that sentiment into one more CAA championship for JMU.

“It’s based on heart now,” Fowler said. “We have love for the team and for the sport and winning conferences. I hope we win, and I think we will.”