JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman swimming takes the long trek to Columbia, S.C. for the Gamecock Invitational midseason meet beginning this Wednesday, Nov. 20 - Friday, Nov. 22 with each day's events kicking off at 10:00 a.m.
"It's a great opportunity to suit up in some fresh suits and try to go fast," said head coach Ben Young. "It's always a fun time throughout the year with this being the pinnacle of the semester and it's what we continue to work towards. This meet coming coming in week 12 of our season so it's a little bit earlier than typical for us, but it's still nice to see the team getting excited and watch the pool deck atmosphere lighten up a little bit with the attention to detail remaining paramount."
This is the Eagles second trip to a Division I university this season with a meet against Virginia Tech back in September. With the team going back-to-back in meets in October, the Eagles had a week off to rest and recover before the midseason meet.
"The Emory Invitational has always been placed very nicely for us," said Young. "It gives us a really good idea of where people are when they are broken down. A solid performance from the team last week based on where we were in that cycle. The message to the team is that rest is coming. So hopefully when Tuesday rolls around and we get into Columbia, it'll be a lot of excitement and ready to race on Wednesday."
With multiple Division I and Division II schools attending the Gamecock Invitation this week, Ben Young looks to get his team prepared to face high level competition.
"This is our first year going to the Gamecock Invitational and in the end it's about understanding that it is a solid mix of teams," said Young. "It's a great mix of teams and a great opportunity for our team to get into the mix and understand what that level of competition looks like. Once we get into conference and we start facing Wingate and Catawba, we are not going to see a lower level of competition. For us it's another meet, we're used to it at this point and we're going to continue to put things on the schedule to challenge them, and I think South Carolina is putting on one heck of a meet."
Going into the week off before the Gamecock Invitational, Junior swimmer Jakov Igrec takes the opportunity to rest and recover before another week of high level competition.
"We've been grinding a lot the past eleven weeks in preparation for this meet," said Igrec. "We were cruising through all the meets we were doing before without any rest. We are rested for this one so we are expecting some good times and performances."
Senior Tyler Schehr talks about his week's preparation and getting ready to face off against the highest level competition the Eagles have seen this year.
"We've been preparing all season for this moment," said Schehr. "We're in our rest phase right now, so a lot of us are bringing the heart rate down so when we go to South Carolina we can speed up and go a lot quicker and try to get out the best times of the season.
Being a senior for the Eagles squad, Schehr knows what it takes to be a leader on this team and motivate the team to push themselves everyday.
"The seniors this year has been the best I've ever seen them," said Schehr. "Everybody is pushing everyone else. Everybody is bringing each other up, motivating everyone and helping with anything that they need and we're always there to help out."
Carson-Newman makes the trip to the University of South Carolina for the Gamecock Invitational at the Carolina Natatorium in Columbia S.C. Beginning on Wednesday, Nov. 20 through Friday, Nov. 22 with each day starting at 10:00 a.m.
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