By Wynn McDonald
In May 2012, Bellarmine University ushered in a new era of athletic competition with the creation of the men’s and women’s swimming teams, under the leadership of coach John Brucato.
In the years since, the Knights’ swim program has been steadily developing, with Brucato building both units into competitive forces in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. Now, going into year six with two exciting teams that feature both proven experience and prolific young talent, he has his best group yet.
On the men’s side, the Knights are led by two strong captains in senior jack-of-all-trades Luke Dobson and junior distance freestyler Marc McCormick, each of whom has three individual program records to his name―Dobson in the 200 freestyle, 200 butterfly, and 400 individual medley, and McCormick in the 500, 1000, and 1650 freestyle. They are joined by juniors Matthew Pettit, who similar records in the 50 and 100 backstroke last year, and Chris Owen, who joined Pettit, Dobson, and sophomore Brandon Smith in setting the 200 medley relay mark; Dobson, McCormick, Pettit, and Smith also hold the record in the 400 freestyle and 400 medley relays. Smith is part of a promising sophomore group that includes Brendon Smith, James Schwartz, and Connor Clare.
In addition to all the returning experience, the men’s squad is bolstered by an undeniably talented quartet of newcomers. This group includes Wilkin Savery, a breaststroker from Zionsville, Indiana; Louisville native Jeffrey Owen, a distance freestyler and backstroker; Gabriel Barreras, an international student from Guaynabo, Puerto Rico that specializes in butterfly; and Ty Grubb, a northern Kentucky native who has already made a significant impact at Bellarmine.
Grubb broke the program record in the 100 breaststroke in his first collegiate meet, the Derby City Invitational on October 7.
This influx of talent already has created high expectations for this team.
“With the freshman bringing in a lot of talent in breaststroke and fly, our men’s team has better relays than in past years and a good chance to improve our conference standings and get a group to nationals this year,” Dobson said.
The women’s team is experiencing similar growth. This year’s captains are senior Olivia Hoskins, owner of five individual program records, and junior Kandis Arlinghaus, an accomplished freestyler and relay swimmer. Also leading the Knights will be two juniors—Katie Vulich and Emily Zawadzki—who boast a total of five individual records between them: Vulich in the 50, 100, and 200 backstroke, and Zawadski in the 100 and 200 freestyle.
Bellarmine also returns seniors Lexie Gray, Lauren Batliner, Catherine Hartman, Madeleine Hoskins, and Nikki Kauffmann, and junior breaststrokers Hadley Neal and Ellen Neltner round out the upperclassmen.
Buoying the women’s team is a strong group of underclassmen. Sophia Norén, a freshman from Sundyberg, Sweden, is a highly ranked breaststroker who has competed for the Solna Gymnasium swim team in Stockholm, Sweden. She came out on top in her first meet in the States, setting two program records (100 & 200 breastroke).
The underclassmen group includes Norén, other freshmen Haley Todd and Caroline Cross, and sophomores Tremaine Allen, Audrey Hixenbaugh, Meredith Ingle, Grace Roegner, Emily Rosener and Alex Scott.
“I would say all of our freshman have great potential this year,” said O. Hoskins. “They all are competitive swimmers that are excited to come to practice and work hard… I am grateful for the opportunity to be a member and a leader on this team.”
Recently, at the House of Champions meet November 17th-19th, the Knights had another strong showing, and three swimmers—Grubb, Norén, and O. Hoskins—broke their own school records in the men’s 100 breaststroke, women’s 100 breaststroke, and women’s 200 individual medley, respectively. A total of seven new program marks were set over the weekend, with Grubb, Norén, and the women’s relay team of Vulich, Norén, O. Hoskins, and Zawadski in the 400 medley and 200 medley—which is good enough to rank 11th in the nation—all contributors.
Talent aside, much of this early season success can likely be attributed to strong team chemistry.
“My favorite thing about this year’s team is the attitude,” Arlinghaus said. “Every day in practice, I see my teammates really challenging each other to go faster and push harder. It’s a healthy competitive atmosphere where we are excited for each other and work together to get better.”
The two teams still have some work to do if they’re going to meet Brucato’s goals of finishing among the top six teams at the GLVC Swimming and Diving Championships in February, and sending individuals from both teams on to the NCAA competition in March. But the results so far have been encouraging.
“I see this group of women and men becoming a better collective group, willing to work for goals bigger than themselves,” Brucato said. “Though we are categorized as an individual sport by NCAA standards, we have taken some strides to shed ourselves of this heading… [I believe] you can be a great athlete and great team under any set of circumstances, period.”