University of Minnesota Athletics
Five Things to Watch in 2015-16
9/25/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming & Diving
The University of Minnesota Golden Gophers will officially begin their season next Saturday, Oct. 3 as they take on the Florida State Seminoles. Before they fly south to Tallahassee, Gopher Sports sat down with head coach Kelly Kremer to discuss the year ahead. Five areas stood out as Kremer relayed his excitement.
1 Fresh faces. Twenty-nine student-athletes make up the rookie class. Last season, Minnesota said goodbye to 24 seniors, including a group of women who collected an unprecedented four straight Big Ten titles. Both of the Gophers' recruiting classes were ranked nationally by SwimSwam, with the men's squad taking the No. 11 spot and the women's team placed at No. 9.
"There is just so much energy, so much excitement among our first-year class," Kremer said. "Even though they are freshmen in college, they are not freshmen in the pool. They are experienced, accomplished athletes that I feel will really add to our team."
2 Answer the call. A new season calls for a new team mantra. Graduating talent and starting a year with so many fresh faces illustrates unknowns. Kremer feels from the outside perspective, there has been a perception that the Gophers aren't going to be as strong as normal.
"I think that is a wakeup call for our program," Kremer said. "This is an opportunity to answer the call. I can see a fire lit under our team and I can't wait to see how it plays out in February and March."
3 Diving depth. The Gophers return the NCAA Women's Diver of the Year in Yu Zhou, as well as bronze medalist Matt Barnard on the men's side. Zhou and Barnard return as juniors for the Gophers, in addition to Manny Pollard, Jessica Ramberg, Lexi Tenenbaum and Dylan Zoe who qualified and competed at last season's NCAA Championships. The diving team welcomes talent from Elizabeth Click, Morgan Justus, Mariam Khamis and Alan LeBlang.
"This is probably the most talented group of divers we have ever had from top to bottom since I've been at Minnesota," Kremer said. "Wenbo Chen is second to none and I can't wait to watch the team dive."
4 Olympic year. This season's Arena Pro Swim Series at Minneapolis will be a big meet for the Gophers as they welcome top talent in their home pool. Olympians and Olympic hopefuls will race in long course meter format from November 12-14, giving the Gophers a chance to grab some additional Olympic Trials Standards as well as serving as a mid-season checking point.
"You kind of want the biggest meets of your life to be in a long course pool," Kremer said. "We are lucky to have one in the middle of the college season this year. It's a great chance for us to swim fast and see where we are at with the rest of the country."
2015 NCAA Champion Kierra Smith is taking the 2015-16 season off collegiately to train solely with the hopes of earning a spot on Canada's Olympic Team. She's eligible to return for her senior season, and is providing training updates on her new blog.
5 Returners are ready. In addition to the returning divers, Minnesota welcomes back last season's top dual meet point scorers, Daryl Turner and Brooke Zeiger. Turner earned bronze at the 2015 Big Ten Championships in the 100-yard butterfly and held the top times on the men's team in four different individual events, as well as being a key figure to four out of five Minnesota relays. Zeiger snagged two school records in her freshman season at Minnesota, including a golden performance in the 400-yard individual medley where she was named Big Ten Champion.
Jakub Maly, who spent the summer at the high-profile World University Games and World Championships, will enter his junior season with three Minnesota school records. Last season's 18 returning Big Ten A-finalists will be featured on this year's forthcoming team poster.
"They are doing everything for one another right now-making each other better," Kremer said. "We are in a really great spot and I can't wait to start competing."
Keep up with everything happening as the team prepares for the upcoming season by staying tuned to GopherSports.com and by following Gopher Swimming and Diving on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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