SWIMMING & DIVING | Hoyas Prepared for Bucknell

The Georgetown swimming and diving team will gain valuable experience preparing for the end-of-season Big East championship when it competes in the similarly formatted Bucknell Invitational this weekend.

Head Coach James Holder stressed the importance of the meet, believing that the Hoyas are poised for some of their strongest swims to date.

“This is our biggest focus meet for the first semester, so we definitely want to try to focus on the details and how we want to swim at Big East at the end of the year,” Holder said. 

But the competition will be tough. Besides Bucknell, Georgetown will face a strong Yale squad, Colgate, Delaware, Fordham, LaSalle and Binghamton. 

“Big East is a trials-final meet just like this is, so it’s going to be a good experience for our kids to get up at 7 [a.m.] and then have to swim again at night,” Holder said. 

Georgetown has already faced Delaware in a dual meet earlier this year, where it fell 209-88 on the men’s side and 223-77 on the women’s. 

Yale and Bucknell will be the stiffest competition this weekend, but Holder is more focused on Georgetown’s times than he is with the competition.  

“I think we are going to have our best performances so far on this year at this meet,” Holder said. “I’m really not concerned with where we place in this meet — I’m more focused on swimming fast and the places will take care of themselves.”

When asked about expectations for particular swimmers, Holder demurred. 

“I’d hate to single out one individual event. I think we’re going to have an overall good team performance,” Holder said. 

Part of the reason for that is the Hoyas’ steady improvement over the course of the year. 

“We’ve been improving as a team all along this year,” Holder said, “I think we’re going to continue to get better. We want to be at our best at the Big East.”