By Ari Strait

The three-time America East swimming and diving champion Northeastern Huskies will be taking a more prepared team into the pool this season to defend both their conference crown and last year’s undefeated record. Sophomore Emily White believes the team has the ability to be just as successful as they were last year, when they went 9-0. “I’d say we’re more talented, and we’re working harder than ever before,” she said. NU Coach Roy Coates acknowledges the tremendous talent that graduated from the team, but has plenty of faith in both his new senior and freshman classes. “I think our leadership is really good. We’re about five weeks into it and the personalities have meshed very well. The class who are seniors now are all conference finalists and have been members of three championships teams. “We have a very good [freshman] class. Sara Reddick is an outstanding swimmer from Texas, who will come in and be top three in several events in the America East. We have Rachel Dane and Kerryn Palmer to replace the two distance swimmers we lost. They’re very competitive, we shouldn’t miss a beat there. Kara Tontodonato, she’s a very good breaststroker and could potentially be a finalist in America East. On the diving boards, we probably took a bigger hit,” he said. Coates sees an important distinction between the team’s efforts to replace lost swimmers versus those made to replace lost divers. “In the swimming part, we gained more points than we graduated, but on the diving boards, Katie Mailman, Jen Runkel and Ryann Welch were probably three of the top three divers in the conference last year. [Sophomore] Adela Gavozdea, who redshirted last year, should replace one, [sophomore] Lauren Portman should step into one of those roles, and we have two new transfer divers, and two new freshman divers. Previously, one of the team’s biggest strengths was their depth. The Huskies didn’t necessarily win every event in every meet with the first and second place finishers. It was the accumulation of points from both top and middle finishers that propelled the Huskies to victory after victory. White says that even though this year might be more of a challenge, the mentality of this 26-member team is staying the same. “We stepped up our schedule. There’s so many different spots. It doesn’t matter if you’re winning or finishing third of fourth. It comes down to scoring more points. Our goal is always to win championships. We’re definitely going after our fourth America East championship,” she said. The first time the Huskies get in the pool will be at the Red vs. Black intrasquad scrimmage scheduled for Friday, Oct. 18. Although some might worry that this would simply intensify intrasquad competition, White says these scrimmages are typically used as added preparation for the team’s newest additions. “That’s mostly just a practice for the freshmen,” she said. Coates agrees. “It’s a chance for them to compete in a meet situation, and for me to learn a little more about the freshmen; mostly a dress rehearsal for what we’re going to need to do,” he said. The women’s season officially begins on Oct. 26 at Boston University.