Women's Swimming & Diving | 10/21/2015 12:57:00 PM
ITHACA, N.Y. – Fresh off its 15th Empire 8 championship, the Ithaca College women's swimming and diving team begins its drive for another title on Saturday when the Bombers host Fredonia and The College at Brockport in a tri-meet at the A&E Aquatics Pavilion.
Ithaca, which posted a 16-1 record last season including a first place finish at the Henry Kumpf Invitational, will return several key components that drove last season's successes including
Anna Belson and
Nickie Griesemer who were each named All-American. Griesemer, who is entering her junior campaign, earned her third All-American nod in the last two seasons after being named the Empire 8 Diver of the Year and reaching the NCAA Championship for the second consecutive season. Belson was honored as one of the nation's best after being named Second-Team All-Empire 8 and qualifying for the NCAA Championship.
Now in her 32nd year at the helm of the program, head coach
Paula Miller, who was named Coach of the Meet after guiding the Bombers to their sixth UNYSCSA title last season, will also return five student-athletes who were named All-Conference by the Empire 8 last year including
Lake Duffy,
Grace Ayer,
Michelle Heidgerken, Griesemer and Belson. The Bombers will also have an experienced team as they boast 30 returners from the 2014-15 campaign including five that qualified for NCAA competition, however, with several students completing academic work abroad, Miller knows that her freshmen class will play a significant role in this season's outcome.
"This will be a unique year where we have a very large freshmen class, and seven of our juniors are currently abroad for the fall semester, so for the first half we will be, in fact, an entirely different team than last year because of our personnel, and anything can happen," said Miller. "We will learn a lot over the semester about our new strengths and weaknesses but we're excited to see how they progress. After the holidays we will have our athletes return and will be a much more balanced and intimidating team."
Ithaca will provide its fans with plenty of opportunity to watch the team perform as the Bombers will host nine of their 12 events at the A&E Center Aquatics Pavilion including the UNYSCSA/Empire 8 Championship from February 17-20.
IC will make its way to Albany on October 31 to compete against Renssalaer before returning home on November 7 to take on Cortland.
Three days later, Ithaca will travel to Geneva to do battle with the William Smith Herons before welcoming Geneseo and Hartwick to South Hill for a tri-meet on November 21 in the A&E Center.
After a short recess for Thanksgiving, Ithaca will return to the pool for the three-day Bomber Invitational from December 4-6 as several teams from all over the state invade campus for one of the region's most competitive swimming and diving events.
Upon returning from winter break, Ithaca will return to Troy, N.Y. to participate in the Henry Kampf Invitational hosted by R.P.I. on January 16. The Bombers placed first of seven teams in the event last season.
One week later on January 23, Ithaca will host Alfred before entertaining several schools in the Dick Comanzo Diving Invitational on Sunday.
The Bombers will wrap up their regular season competition with an individual meet against Union on January 30 before hosting the Ithaca Invitational two weeks later on February 13.
Ithaca's final tune-up before the NCAA Championship will take place between February 17-20 as teams from all over New York State compete for bragging rights and a state title at the UNYSCSA Championship.
"I'm looking forward to another successful year and making the necessary preparations for us to be highly competitive at the Conference Championship," concluded Miller.
