Desiree Villanueva EDINBURG — UTRGV Women’s Swimming and Diving Team is getting ready for its first meet after long weeks of training.
UTRGV Womens Swimming and Diving head coach Betsy Graham explains what the fans can expect to see on the first meet.
“There are going to see one fantastic diving,” Graham said. “We’re going to see some stand up swims from a few of the swimmers.”
UTRGV Sophomore Swimmer AJ Rogers discusses paving the way for future UTRGV Women’s Swimming and Diving Teams.
“I’m really excited,” Rogers said. “I feel it’s such a cool experience to be a part of a team where you know we are the first here. We are going to make this team what we want it to be and we get to set a legacy.”
The team trains twice a day, committing hours of practice before the sun rises, and even more at noon.
Rogers added what their team focuses on during long practices.
“I think it’s putting in the work right now,” said Rogers. “Right now, we are working really hard, working on our form, working on getting faster and becoming a team and kind of striving to do those things so we can reach our goals.”
Rogers hopes to see more women in swimming and hopes to see more schools with swimming and diving teams in the Valley.
“When I was looking for schools my freshman year, I was like, ‘Man there’s really not much in this area,’” she said. “So, I think for a lot of swimmers around here it’s going to be really amazing to them to be able to come and watch college swimming in their area and I think fans are going to love that.”
UTRGV Womens Swimming and Diving coach Jennifer Mangum spoke more on what the fans can expect to see at the first dual match meet.
“Well hopefully you’ll see some fast swimming and some spectacular diving,” said Mangum. “We’ve been working on adding some new difficulty and some pretty fancy dives.”
