@CanesSwimDive Heads to Texas for Friday Meet
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Miami Hurricanes will travel west for their return to the pool this weekend, facing off against Incarnate Word and host Texas A&M in a meet slated for broadcast on SEC Network+.
Head swimming coach Andy Kershaw is excited about the opportunity for the swimming & diving team, who will be competing together as a full unit for the first time this season.
“It’s the first time where all of our swimmers and divers, both men and women, have been in the same facility together,” Kershaw said. “That’s exciting. It’s going to be great to be together as a team, and know that it’s important for our seniors – My Fridell, Kara McCormack, Tanner Wilfong and Alejandra Gonzalez – to be with their teammates this weekend.”
With his team largely healthy, Kershaw knows the challenge in competing against the host Aggies, but expects a number of veteran performers to lead the way.
Miami divers will be similarly challenged by an impressive Aggies continent.
“We have great competition ahead,” he said. “Certainly Texas A&M is one of the better teams in the country, and most importantly one of the reasons I wanted to go against them, they are very highly respected for how they compete and how they race their races. And it’s an important meet for our divers, because they’re going to get some great diving competition.”
Kershaw knows his team cannot look past Incarnate Word when the three teams battle it out Friday night at 7 p.m. ET.
“Incarnate Word also has a great team, a lot of talented swimmers that will be in it all the way through as well,” Kershaw said. “The three teams will competing in a great facility, and I know our team will be ready to go.”
Miami has a number of talented veterans who are potential NCAA qualifiers, including junior Christina Leander (backstroke), junior Julia Schippert (breaststroke), junior Angela Algee and senior My Fridell (freestyle), sophomore Julie Suarez and Ksenia Yuskova (freestyle) and junior Cameron Davis (distance).
“They all have a chance to make NCAA’s, and they all have a chance this weekend to race against swimmers that have been there and will probably be there again this spring,” Kershaw said. “That’s an important thing for our swimmers as we go through the season.”
Kershaw said the Hurricanes have been focused on one particularly area as they prepare for meets in the coming weeks, starting Friday night in College Station.
“One of the things on the swimming end we’re really focused on right now at this part of the season is finishing our races strong,” Kershaw said. “We’ve been talking to the team a lot about that, and having little competitions amongst ourselves to test it. We’re hoping that pays off Friday night and moving forward.”
