Blue Devils relish underdog role in ACCs

Over the next five days, the women's swimming and diving teams will be on a mission to prove themselves at this week's ACC Championships in Charlottesville, Va. Although Duke, which possesses the conference's only non-scholarship program, is usually light-years behind the rest of the league. This team, however, certainly feels that it is no longer the doormat of the ACC.

    

"I've been here 26 years," head coach Bob Thompson said. "This is the best women's team I've ever had."

    

Meet after meet the Blue Devils have posted unprecedented results, and ever since their close loss to N.C. State this January, they have felt confident that an upset or two are definitely possible in the ACC Championships.

    

"Last year we came really close to beating out N.C. State at ACCs," co-captain Amy Halligan said. "It was so close. But this year we lost to N.C. State by one point and I think at ACCs we have a really great shot at beating them."

    

The Blue Devils will undoubtedly look to their seniors to keep pace with the rest of the ACC, and their leadership has not gone unnoticed by Thompson.

    

"Lauren Hancock and Amy Halligan and Katie Fay--that's three great seniors, and great leadership," Thompson said. "And those girls want to go out doing something special.... I think for them to come in and beat a couple of teams at ACCs would just light their fire--I know it's something they want to do."

    

The difference between this year's Duke squad and those of years past however, will be the standout underclassmen who will accompany their senior leaders to Charlottesville. Sophomore Katie Ness, who sat out the first half of the season with a knee injury, could very well reach the final heat in all of her events, and Thompson believes that she could provide the push that will propel Duke out of the ACCs basement.

    

"We're stronger now than we were then because we got Katie Ness, and she's a biggie," Thompson said. "She's the real deal, so she's going to make a big difference at ACCs."

All eyes will also be on freshman Jackie Rodriguez, who has already posted NCAA B qualifying times in the mile freestyle and the 200 breaststroke, an event in which she is undefeated.

    

If Duke wants an upset however, then a heavy burden will fall upon its unheralded swimmers to step up and collect points for the Blue Devils.

    

"Only the top 16 swimmers score in any one event," Thompson said. "We want to get our girls in scoring position. If that happens, then we'll do something a Duke team hasn't done in a long time.... There are going to be a lot of kids who never get mentioned who will be in position to score."

    

It will be crucial for Duke to perform well in the relays, where the Blue Devils have historically finished very poorly. According to assistant coach Lynzee Sharp, though, this year could hold more success for Duke's relay teams.

    

"I think the relay teams can do well," Sharp said. "In most of the relays we've usually finished seventh or eighth, we're almost hitting the bottom every time, but, like I've said all year, we've swam [sic] better this year than we ever have before."

    

Indeed, coming together at the right time of the season is the name of the game in ACC swimming, and in contrast to last year, where many felt the Blue Devils' peak did not coincide with the ACC Championships, all indicators seem to suggest that this time they'll be ready.

    

"We're here for six months busting our a** back and forth in the pool, and we want it to show up at ACCs," Thompson said. "That's the one that counts for us. That's where we want our times to be better than they've ever been before."

    

If those times are fast enough, then 2004 could become the year where the Blue Devils finally prove their legitimacy in the world of ACC swimming.