By Liam Reilly
@liampreilly852
As October comes to an end, winter sports have already begun practicing, with many of their first matches taking place in the first week of November. One of these teams is the men’s swimming and diving.
Last season the men’s team went 5-6 in regular season meets. Springfield was one of seven teams that qualified for the NEWMAC championships, leading the first day but ultimately finishing sixth. Sophomore diver Christian Butler was named the NEWMAC Diver of the Year after he scored first on both the 1-meter board and 3-meter board at the championship meet.
In terms of the upcoming season, Springfield was voted to finish fifth in the NEWMAC conference standings, with 15- time defending champions MIT projected first. First-year head coach Howard Hinds emphasized that the team’s mindset is not shaped by preseason polls.
“I’m not worried about that,” Hinds said. “We have our internal goals. It’s more about the process and improving on a daily basis. Right now it’s all about trying to do work in the water as we go and improve every Sunday.”
One of the Pride’s top swimmers will be senior Jordan McMillian. His usual events are the 100m freestyle and the 100m backstroke, but he has competed in relay races and the 500m freestyle. McMillian’s goals for his senior season include chasing a record set by his former teammate.
“Individually I want to break the 100-meter backstroke record,” McMillian said. “It was previously held by one of my friends who was on the team, Owen Oldenburg. He broke it and we always competed when he was on the team so I really want to try to break his record.”
As for team goals, McMillian believes the team has a lot of potential this year, and that they can do a lot of great things. Hinds also has huge expectations for the team, believing they can get qualifiers for the NCAA Division III Championship meet.
“Goals would always be improving in our standings, I believe we were fifth for the men and third for the women,” Hinds said. “I think this is the year that we’ll get one male at NCAA’s, maybe a relay or two. For diving, Christian won diving last season and hopefully he’ll make Nationals this year.”
To start the 2024-25 campaign, the team will take on MIT in Art Linkletter Natatorium on Nov. 2 at 12 p.m. As for conference play, they will travel to Wheaton and Babson while staying at home to compete against MIT and Coast Guard. Springfield is also one of 11 teams invited to the Gompei Invitational that is hosted by WPI. McMillian mentioned the two away meets as ones that he and the team are already looking forward to.
“Wheaton and Babson,” McMillian said. “They are two of our biggest rivals, especially in dual meets. We face them twice, once in dual meets and then at the end of the season in NEWMAC’s. I think those two are meets that the team are really excited about.”