With completing renovations, UNCW Swim and Dive ready to open new season
Seahawks are scheduled to face off with the Duke Blue Devils Friday
WILMINGTON, N.C. (WWAY) – UNCW just announced its new slogan for the upcoming athletic year and look no further than the men’s and women’s swim & dive program to embody ‘Tidal Town.’ Ahead of the season starting Friday when the Seahawks host Duke at the David B. Allen Natatorium, new still dries on the walls and caution tape marks the nearly-completed progress.
The programs were crowned champions of the Coastal Athletic Association in the same season for the first time since 2006. For UNCW, the championships raised its all-time totals to 16 on the men’s side and five for the women’s program.
“Wilmington is a swimming and diving town,” said head coach Bobby Guntoro. “Having a team like Duke coming to town… a lot of people in the nation are looking at us like ‘that program is a good program’ and I think for us it’s a big deal to take a shot at them.”
On top of the conference championships, The Seahawks had huge non-conference wins last season over the University of South Carolina and the Blue Devils, beating the Gamecocks in Wilmington and topping Duke in Durham.
“As a Mid Major program, the new landscape of the NCAA, I think a program like us is going to start rising up and show we can play with the big dogs.”
With 21 seniors on the team this year, coach believes they can keep pushing boundaries and achieving higher goals.
“For me personally, the senior group has helped us elevate the program over the last four years. We also have 21 freshmen. In a way, we have to really connect with them with either how they will open or close their chapters.”
There were significant renovations done to both pools this summer in the Natatorium. It was closed from June 24 to Aug. 21. UNCW says it was necessary for preventative maintenance including filters, structural repairs and painting to improve the efficiency and quality of the filtration system as well as the overall longevity of the facility. Coach says the paint in the pool and all the walls is brand new, the filtration system is brand new, the pump is brand new, and also the foundation of the pool was renovated.
“Every swimmer or dive that ever swam or dove at UNCW, they did in the same tank. I think there’s a connection with the alums and I think these guys (the current swimmers) are able to connect with them that way. New things also mean more consistency, which will help us be more consistent. It’s still the original, but in a way it’s a brand-new historical home. We live in Wilmington, we love history. It’s been touched up and as an alum I am proud to see this is where we are right now.”
