Swimming and Diving Season Preview
Following a summer filled with impressive international accomplishments, the 2017-18 Nittany Lions swimming and diving team can’t wait to get back in to the pool. With several of Head Coach Tim Murphy’s athletes competing on the international level, they will bring back experience and will be ready to lead the team heading into the year.
The 2017-18 swimming and diving teams are led by junior diver Hector Garcia Boissier and junior swimmer Ally McHugh. Both are expected to have great years following last season’s success as well as what they achieved competing at an international level this past summer.
Garcia Boissier won the Spanish national diving championship and competed in the FINA World Aquatics Championships, where he and his brother narrowly missed the finals in the three-meter synchronized springboard dive. McHugh competed in the U.S. National Championships where she earned fourth-place in two events, which landed her a spot on the U.S. national team. As a member, she won two silver medals in the World University Games in Taipei.
Coach Murphy, who also had an eventful summer becoming a coach for the USA national team, was extremely proud of his swimmer’s accomplishments. He called it “an accumulation of work.”
Murphy is expecting the swimmers who competed internationally to have a profound effect on the team this year.
“Adding those kind of standards, those expectations, and having a leader by example will certainly contribute to what we’ve been doing here, but probably more important now, what we continue to do,” he said.
Garcia Boissier finished last season placing 16th in the three-meter dive at the NCAA championship meet and is looking to improve his standing this season.
“I want to final in NCAAs… I’ve never been in the top eight, so that is definitely one of my goals,” he said.
Garcia Boissier isn’t just expecting a good year for himself but also has his eyes on a teammate.
“I really see Jack Crow stepping up this year,” he said, “He’s a lot more motivated than the past few years.”
2017 graduate and 2016 Olympian Shane Ryan will continue to train with Coach Murphy. Based on what Ryan has seen, he expects great things from the team during the upcoming season.
“Matthew DiNunzio, Robbie [Dickson] they really stepped up this summer big time,” he said.
McHugh also is expecting her teammates to have outstanding years.
“We have a really good group this year,” she said. “Our freshmen are really awesome, I’m really excited to see what they can do… it’s going to be so awesome to see how they improve and how they race this year.”
McHugh is also very excited about two returning swimmers, Hannah Blaser and Aleksandra Tulacz.
“They’ve really put their heads down and done the work and I think are going to have a really good year,” she said.
Though Murphy was proud about what his swimmer accomplished over the summer as well as last season, he knows there is more work to be done. When asked what the team needs to improve on he said; “Everything.”
To be more precise, Murphy wants his team to focus on a few themes.
“Four of the things we’ve put out there for them are their integrity, their ownership, performance, and contributing to the team culture.”
Regarding the team culture, Murphy believes it is time to move it forward.
“We’ve got the foundational pieces, the awareness of what we need to do and how we need to do it, now we’ve got to do it and get better at it,” he said.
The Nittany Lions host their intrasquad blue-white meet on September 23rd, and the 2017-18 season begins October 14 in a home meet against Virginia Tech.
Jerome Taylor is a junior majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email jerometaylor91697@gmail.com.
