The Miami University women's swimming and diving team began its 2013-14 campaign Friday and began a new era of RedHawk women's swimming. Head coach Mark Davis replaced Dave Jennings, who coached the RedHawks for 31 years and announced his retirement last spring. Davis had served as Jennings' assistant for six years.
"It's always exciting to start a new era," Davis said. "After six years I learned how to treat the college athlete, and I learned about all of the little things [as Jennings' assistant. It's a whole lot of fun. Miami University is a great university, and a great place to be."
The RedHawks began their weekend with a dual meet against Purdue University as the 'Hawks lost their home and season opener 177-116. Freshman Stephanie LeMire won the 100-meter breast stroke and senior Nikki Craft won the three meter diving event with a score of 282.82. The RedHawks placed second in nine events.
The RedHawks were able to turn things around Saturday as they defeated Xavier University 158-95, winning all 14 events in which they competed.
"Winning and losing isn't as important this early in the season, unlike other sports," Davis said. "It's more important to get races in and remembering how to pace an event."
Sophomore Emma Szczupakiewicz led the RedHawks Saturday, with three victories. Szczupakiewicz won the 100 and 200-meter back stroke events with times of 58.88 seconds and 2:08.04 minutes, respectively. Szczupakiewicz was also a part of the 200 meter medley team that won with a time of 1:46.94. Joining Szczupakiewicz was LeMire, junior Katie Bootsma and senior Cynthia Donovan.
"I didn't expect to have this fast start," Szczupakiewicz said. "I was really surprised and really happy. The work we put in is already paying off."
Szczupakiewicz said she hopes her early success can continue throughout the season.
"We definitely have a strong team," Szczupakiewicz said. "We want to do what we did last year, win the [Mid-American Conference]. We think we have the potential to do that."
The men's swimming and diving team also began its season in Oxford, with a meet Saturday. The RedHawks won their season opener Saturday against Xavier 130-125.
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"It's always good to get a win from a confidence standpoint," men's head coach Pete Lindsay said. "I'm expecting to see a team that is very balanced, that gives us flexibility in terms of line ups. We were able to see [on Saturday] that we are balanced."
The RedHawks won the first five events and nine of the fifteen events they competed in.
The all freshmen 200-meter medley team of Maximilian Jelen, Steven Russo, Grant Stafford and Jack Strauss won the event with a time of 1:34.11. Russo also won the 100-meter breaststroke with a time of 58.24. Strauss won the 100-meter backstroke (52.73) and finished third in the 100 meter freestyle (47.06). Stafford won the 100 meter freestyle with a time of 46.28.
"I was hoping to see that the freshman were confident," Lindsay said. "We were able to see what we wanted to see."
The next meet for the women's team will be Saturday, Oct. 26 at Akron University and the next meet for the men's team is Nov. 2 at Cleveland State University.
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