SHERMAN, Texas - The Austin College men's and women's swim teams will be looking to make a splash in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference in 2022-23 under second year head coach Dan Snow, and the 'Roos return plenty of talent with an eye toward getting on the podium at the conference championship.
The 'Roo women took fifth place overall at the conference meet last season while the men finished sixth, but Snow brings back a strong core of swimmers and has added several talented new faces to both squads. Leading the way for the women will be the Liberty Chanin and Sammi Thiele, who each earned All-SCAC honors at the conference championship, while the men will be looking to seniors Sean Cookson and Cristan Gutierrez, as well as junior Cody Dean, for leadership this year.
Chanin brought home just the second women's individual SCAC title last year, shattering the program record in the 1650 freestyle with a time of 17:42.90 in the process. Chanin broke several other records on the year, as did Thiele, who earned All-SCAC honors in the 100 breaststroke, 200 breaststroke, and 200 individual medley. Thiele also set new program bests in each of those events, with times of 1:06.43, 2:24.49, and 2:09.46, respectively.
Those weren't the only records Chanin and Thiele were a part of, with Thiele also setting a new Austin College mark with a time of 24.43 in the 50 freestyle, while Chanin established new records in the 200 freestyle, 500 freestyle, and 1000 freestyle. The duo were also a part of the program's record-setting 800 free relay team, while Chanin and fellow returner Lauren Olivier helped set a new Austin College mark in the 400 free relay and Thiele, Chanin, and another returning swimmer, Becca Tobias, were part of the team's 400 medley relay team, which also set a new program record last season.
On the men's side, the 'Roos will need to replace graduated record-breaker Max Saenz, who set new program benchmarks in the 50 free and 100 butterfly last year, but Cookson has a personal best in the 50 freestyle of 22.34 and will be looking to chase after Saenz's record-setting 21.25 swim last year. That mark may not last much longer, however, as a trio of freshmen, along with Cookson, could challenge it this season. Newcomer Jack Stack, who is also a member of the men's water polo team, had a personal best of 21.17 in high school, while Jayden Crews had a high school best of 21.96 and Jonas Eaton comes in with a personal best of 22.27.
The Austin College men will also be looking for a big contribution from Alex Lai, who set a number of personal bests last season, including a 49.31 in the 100 freestyle, less than two seconds off the program record of 47.34. Snow will also be looking for impacts from newcomers JonAustin Blaine, Gabriel Fulton, Tim Smith, and David Stanford on the men's side.
For the women, newcomers Jordan Armstrong, Lola Barcus-Schafer, Lee Campbell, Gabby Docog, Presley Donahue, Cassidee Levine, and Abigail Reece will have a chance to help the 'Roos rise up the rankings in the SCAC, while Abby Fuscone, who came to Austin College as a member of the women's water polo team, joins the group for her senior campaign this year. She's not the only member of the women's team with water polo experience, as both Thiele, who last year was named the Gene Day Award winner as Austin College's most outstanding female student-athlete, and Olivier were key members of the 'Roo women's water polo team that finished third at the USA Water Polo Final Four last season.
Austin College opens up the season this weekend, when they host UT-Permian Basin in Hannah Natatorium at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 22.