JMU has sights on conference championship

Senior-led team seeks to restore glory of storied program with CAA crown

This year, the men's swimming and diving team plans to regain the championship form that brought them three straight Colonial Athletic Association Championships, the first of which was just five years ago.

While still competitive, the Dukes have placed second in each of the past two seasons, falling both times to the University of North Carolina-Wilmington. The Dukes are determined not to let first place in the CAA slip away again this year, according to coach Matthew Barany.

"No coach is happy with second place," Barany said. Our program has a very storied history. We either win the championship or we lose it. It's as simple as that."

JMU performed well during the regular season, going 9-4 overall and 5-1 in the CAA, taking second place in the conference. UNC-W placed first, and George Mason University finished third.

While JMU never faced UNC-W, it did square off against George Mason, losing 127-114.

"We went to GMU with a less-than-healthy team and swam well," Barany said. "GMU may have won, but our confidence soared that afternoon because we swam so well."

While JMU had a solid core of experience, it also had a number of freshmen who needed to develop.

Early on, the seniors had to carry the load while those freshmen developed.

It wasn't until the team's sixth meet, against Davidson College and Clemson University, that a freshman won a race. That freshman was Joe Moore, who won the 500-yard freestyle. By that point, there was noticeable improvement in all the freshmen swimmers.

"The freshmen have matured a lot," senior co-captain Jeff Hicks said. "This team is going to be in good hands."

In the following meet against the University of Delaware and Towson University, Moore posted another victory, this time in the 1,000-yard freestyle. Moore's victory was joined by fellow freshman Josh Fowler in the 200-yard backstroke. Fowler again won the 200-yard backstroke later in the year against George Mason.

Even if it took six meets for a freshman to get a win, Barany said the freshmen exceeded expectations and contributed more than they were expected to.

A possible reason for their accelerated maturity, Barany sensed, was the close bond the seniors had with each other.

"The chemistry among the seniors is so contagious. Their closeness has helped bring the entire team together," Barany said. "This bond has helped our underclassmen mature quicker than expected."

Four seniors collected the bulk of the team's victories — captains Aaron Nester, Mike Nicholas and Hicks, along with junior Geoff Meyer.

All four swimmers swam extremely well throughout the entire year. Meyer was named CAA co-swimmer of the week from Jan. 5 to 11. During that week, he recorded a pair of victories against Delaware and Towson, also while swimming on the winning 200-yard freestyle relay team against Davidson and Clemson. Nester went undefeated for the entire year in the 200-yard breaststroke.

The four got help from sophomore Danny Gray and senior Mark Depew, along with Moore and Fowler, to obtain their 9-4 record. Three of the four losses came against very tough schools.

"We swam against two ACC schools (North Carolina State University and Clemson) and one Conference USA school (Texas Christian University). Both are conferences that are way above the CAA," Nichols said.

On the diving side of things, senior Daniel Rotach and freshman Forrest Bassett each had an up and down year. They struggled against high-quality opponents from outside the conference, but performed adequately against opponents inside the conference.

While neither diver recorded any first-place finishes, Rotach had second-place finishes in both the 1-meter and the 3-meter against the College of William & Mary, while Bassett had a second-place finish in the 1-meter against Delaware and Towson.

JMU had one goal in mind entering the season, and still has that same goal in mind now that the regular season has ended.

"Our expectation is to win," Nicholas said. "No question."