Think that swimmers are the only ones who contribute to the Fairfield Swimming team?
Think again.
Contrar to popular belief, the team is actually referred to as the Swimming and Diving teams, which means that there is an equally important part to the team’s equation: the divers.
Fairfield’s diving team consists of four members, three of which are males.
Although a small group, the quartet hold their own against schools with bigger teams.
The diving team is not distinct from the swimming team.
When being scored at a meet, all of their points are combined. The points, however, are divided between the women’s and the men’s team when totaling the results of a meet.
The two teams must practice separately due to the lack of space, but the diving team feels just as close with the swim team as they do with their fellow divers.
While some may believe that it would be common for some resentment between the two teams, the divers and swimmers get along very well with each other.
In fact, it is not uncommon for several swimmers to watch intently as their divers perform, or for divers to line the sides of the pool and cheer during a heated race.
In terms of overall points, the leaderof the Fairfield men’s diving team is junior Taylor Stecko.
‘I feel closer with the divers, but we get really close with the swimmers too because we travel together and we have land practices together,’ Stecko said.
Stecko added that he likes the smallness of the team.
‘It allows us to get a lot closer with each other,’ Stecko said. ‘We get to know a lot about each other.’
However, there are a few drawbacks to having such a small team.
‘Being on a small team makes it harder in competition because there is more pressure on each of them to do well,’ junior Hillary Urbancic said.
Freshmen Andrew Thomsen has a similar take on the issue.
‘Teams who have more divers have more opportunities to do well,’ Thomsen said.
Regardless of the pressures, the team still maximizes on its chances.
Stecko has in fact broken a 16-year old record on the three-meter board with a score of 410.70.
Another drawback to the small roster and a dive team in general is the lack of publicity.
There are many people on campus who are unaware that the diving team exists, much less that it is actually part of the swimming team.
It often gets overlooked because swimmers comprise the majority of the roster and most of a swimming and diving meet revolves around swim races.
‘We sort of get overlooked, people don’t know we are combined,’ Stecko said. ‘If you look in the bookstore the t-shirts sold only say swimming, they don’t say diving too.’
Regardless of its relative small size, all of the members have a good time and really like the team.
‘I really like the team, we are so close,’ Urbancic said.
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