Swimming and Diving Open Competition at First BIG EAST Championship
February 15, 2006 | Swimming & Diving
Feb. 15, 2006
The University of Louisville swimming and diving team, armed with the most talented squad the program has ever fielded, now has the most challenging championship ahead of them against a star-studded BIG EAST field as the conference meet opens today.
One look at the grounds of the University Louisville today reveals a much different landscape than that of just a few years ago. From Cardinal Park to the recently opened Trager Center, new athletic facilities now blanket the eastern side of campus. Coupled with the recent historic move into the Big East Conference, it is evident the Louisville athletics program is growing by leaps and bounds. This growth is perhaps best apparent in the Cardinal swimming and diving team.
With a new facility of its own in the Ralph Wright Natatorium, the team is poised on surpassing its unprecedented success of last season. "I can honestly say that we've had the best year that we have ever had here in my tenure," said Louisville head coach Arthur Albiero. "We've performed very well throughout the year. Men and women, both sides, have really swum at a whole different level."
Albiero knows all about different levels, as he has coached prior players to NCAA championships in addition to winning NCAA titles himself as a swimmer. With such a prior pedigree, it is clear that the Cardinals are in good hands as they prepare to enter the Big East Championships on February 15. "It's always a bit of an anxious time," Albiero said. "In swimming it comes down to one event. There's not a whole lot of room for mistakes. You've got one shot, and that's it. It's an intense time, an intense preparation. I'm really pleased with how we look in the water right now."
The type of competition ahead will be much different than the Cardinals have faced in years past. "It's a big difference from Conference USA," Albiero said. "Not only is it competitive, but it is extremely deep."
To meet that challenges that lie ahead, preparation has been several years in the making. "We knew we had some work to do, but we had a plan," Albiero said. "We needed two years to kind of be competitive in the Big East. We have got to be ready to fight. It's going to be very intense. All of a sudden everything is going to matter that much more. It's going to be in a great setting, a nice facility, and there's going to be tons of people in the stands. Every little point is going to count for a lot. All of a sudden the stakes are a lot higher. It'll be a good learning opportunity for all of us."
Prospects are much brighter this year than at any point in the program's history. "When I first got here two and a half years ago, if you would have taken that team and plugged it into the Big East, it would have been really tough," Albiero said. "We are going to go and race tough. Our goal is to finish the year in the top 30 in the country. We accomplished that last year, on the men's side, finishing 27th. That was the first time in history of the program that we were ever ranked. Last year we broke 32 school records, mostly in the conference meet. Our goal is to try to top that, and to get better as a team."
Along with Albiero's tutelage, the new Natatorium has helped propel the Cardinals into uncharted waters. "It's an incredibly inviting place to be," Albiero said. "It's comfortable, clean, new, vibrant, and bright. At Crawford it was hard for us to develop a home. It was more of a place we went to practice and then got out of there. I really appreciate that my office is right here. It makes a big difference. We can train long course, which is really a big plus. We have a nice locker room. It has been great for the team. They feel like big-time athletes."
Several of the Cardinal swimmers and divers are doing more than just feeling like big-time athletes, they are on the verge of becoming them. "Individuals actually qualify independently to the NCAA championship," Albiero said. "We have a number of individuals that I think have a great opportunity in their hands to try to achieve that, which is a huge accomplishment in swimming."
On the men's side two such individuals are Robbie Lewis and Vali Preda. Lewis was a champion Conference USA diver last year as a freshman, while Preda is in his first season from Romania. "Rob Lewis has had a tremendous year," Albiero said. "He's diving better as the season progresses. Vali Preda is becoming a world-class performer. He has a great opportunity to make it to the NCAA meet and to be a player there. It's just a matter of putting it together when it counts for that one shot, that one moment."
The women's team is overcome with balance. Two leaders looking to emerge in the Championships are junior Heather Meng and freshman Leslie VanWinkle. "Heather is someone I'm looking forward to watching," Albiero said. "Leslie has incredible versatility. She makes us a lot better."
By February 15, when the Cardinals take to the pool, Albiero will have done all he can do. "That's why it's nerve-wracking; you've just got to sit there," Albiero said. "As a coach, you're helpless. There's nothing you can do, but it's fun."
