Swimming & Diving

Rochester Hosts UAA Championships

As far as Rochester swimming and diving coach Peter Thompson is concerned, competing in one of Division III’s toughest conferences only increases the chances for the Yellowjackets to shine.

And when the entire UAA conference arrives in Rochester in February for the conference championships, the Rochester men and women will have plenty of opportunities to showcase their talents. Several of the conference’s men’s and women’s teams are ranked in the top 25 nationally, with Emory, Washington, and Carnegie Mellon leading the way. The Emory women have won two of the last three national championships.

“The UAA is a very competitive conference, but we have some kids who have an excellent chance of getting into the final heat, and several have the opportunity to make the cut for nationals,” he says.

Rochester will host about 400 swimmers and coaches from Feb. 20 to 23 for the 2008 UAA swimming and diving championships. Because of the growth in the number of participants and events over the past two decades, the four-day event will be held at Webster Aquatic Center, a state-of-the-art facility in nearby Webster, N.Y. The center frequently hosts events on the magnitude of the UAA championships.

“It’s a beautiful facility, one of the finest in the state,” Thompson says.

Despite the pressure of serving as host, Yellowjacket swimmers, coaches, and officials are looking forward to the weekend. Dozens of paid officials and volunteers will make sure everything goes as smoothly as possible by coordinating scorekeeping, monitoring timing, offering concessions, and other tasks.

“It’s a big job,” says Jane Possee, associate director of athletics and recreation and the meet’s director. “The Webster community has been wonderful to work with. They have been open-armed to whatever we need.”

The Yellowjackets are looking to improve on their performances at last year’s championships, where the women placed fifth and the men finished seventh.

“It’s our end-of-the-season meet, so we always want to do well,” says Danielle Scherry ’08, a psychology major from Cleveland who specializes in the distance freestyle events. “We’ll all just be excited, and hopefully that will turn into good performances.”

But regardless of how the Yellowjackets place in the pool, hosting the championships could make the program a long-term winner by raising its profile. In addition to the crowd that attends the event, there will also be an audience on the Internet—Possee says the finals will be Webcast on the athletic department’s homepage.

“It’s a great recruiting opportunity,” she says. “Students can log on and see the university.”

Scherry says the championships will not only benefit Rochester, but the other UAA member schools as well. In addition to the exposure, she says, the squads will just plain have a good time.

“We’re definitely excited,” she says. “It’s a good opportunity for all the schools to come here for a great competition in Rochester.”

Making it a great competition will be a tall order for everyone involved at Rochester. But they’ll be prepared for it, in and out of the pool.

“It’s a great positive for us,” Thompson says. “(The other schools) are coming to us, and we’ll be a great host. We’ll be ready for our opportunity and ready to swim. It will give us a great deal of confidence.”

—Ryan Whirty