Where are you at 6:30 in the morning? The men's and women's swimming teams are in the pool. In fact, the teams spend fall, Thanksgiving and winter breaks training as well.
With the Atlantic Coast Conference Championships in mind, the swimmers spend every morning and afternoon in the pool with that February date not far from their sight.
"Fall break and Thanksgiving break aren't a lot of fun," senior co-captain Molly Brown said. "It is a lot of swimming back and forth and back and forth, but it is all justified at the end of the season. When it is all over and done with, it is the greatest thing ever. You forget about all of those hours of pain."
Brown says she has been swimming since she was six years old.
"This will be the closure to all my years of swimming," Brown said. "This is it."
The two teams started out their seasons at Old Dominion two weeks ago. The women came home with a victory and the men a defeat.
Duke head coach Bob Thompson says the teams will be looking for big contributions from all-ACC junior diver Peter Mackrill and all-ACC senior swimmer Heather Reger. Thompson said the team's praiseworthy freshman class appears to be a huge asset this season. He has high expectations for freshmen Leslie King, Jill Spitzfaden and Chris Wise.
"This is the strongest freestyle class we have had in a long time," said Brown, in regards to the freshman class of '96. "The freshmen are already swimming well."
"We have a strong class," said Juli McDonald, a freshman from Maryland. "Everyone can contribute a lot. We've come together really well."
McDonald said she came to Duke because of the closeness within the team she saw on her recruiting trip. A junior National qualifier in the 100 and 200 backstroke, McDonald expects her times in both events to have greatly dropped by the time the ACC tournament rolls around.
Depth should also prove to be an asset for the women's team this year.
"The sophomores, juniors and seniors are strong in a number of areas, and the freshmen will be able to round us out," said junior Sue Kresel. "It helped us defeat Old Dominion, and we intend to use the depth to our advantage."
The men's team will place more of an emphasis on personal goals this season, due to a tougher schedule said senior Scott Gallagher.
With such a tough schedule, winning every meet is not a likely scenario for the team. Gallagher pointed to meets against College of Charleston and UNC-Wilmington as excellent chances for the Blue Devils to pick up victories and improve personal times.
The men's and women's teams will face North Carolina State in Raleigh this Friday.
"It will be interesting to see how we swim against N.C. State," Brown said. "Last year we were so close to beating them. This meet should tell us a lot about our season."
The Blue Devils' first home meet is November 18th against the University of North Carolina-Wilmington at 2 p.m., in the Duke Aquatic Center.
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