Sept. 18, 2007

HUNTINGTON, W.Va - The 2006-07 season was a successful campaign for the Marshall swimming and diving team, with the squad setting a new high 381.5 points at the Conference USA Championships. The total surpassed the Herd's previous best by more than 132 points despite a 52 hour nightmare trip to conference meet. It might seem that head coach Leonard Kraus would be pleased with the team's improvements in 2006, but the coach continues to stress growth of his young program.

"As well as the girls did under the circumstances last season, there are still many areas where we can improve in," Coach Kraus said. "That does not mean that I am not tremendously proud of my girls and how they handled themselves at that meet!"

Despite nearly all of the Herd's swimmers setting life time bests in 2007, Kraus is looking for more in the upcoming season.

"First of all we have to achieve a winning record. We just missed the last two years going 7-8 in 2006 and 5-6 in 2007. This year we have scheduled tough opponents and we need to continue to raise our level of competitiveness," Kraus said.

"We also have to do a better job of staying healthy. We lost a lot of swims last year because of sickness. Most importantly we have to work on precision. Last year we had two relays disqualified at Conference USA Championships and we simply can't let that happen."

In order to get the best out of this year's group, Kraus has issued a stiff challenge to his athletes.

"Going into the season I have set a specific goal for my team, that goal is to beat our 132 points from last year's conference meet," Kraus said.

"Everyone has to step up, swim faster and dive cleaner. We need our freshman come in and fill the spots of the swimmers we lost, and we have the talent to do that. It is just a matter of them working hard in the pool, working hard on the boards and believing that we can do it."

Schedule
Once again the Herd will be on the road for the majority of its meets this year and will face stiff competition from the likes of Vanderbilt, West Virginia, as well as perennial Mid-American Conference powerhouses Miami University and Ohio University.

The Herd opens the season at Miami on Oct. 6 and will stay on the road for a duel match with Xavier on Oct. 13 and three-way duel meet the following day at Ashland University. After another series of road meets at Duquesne, WVU and Radford, Marshall will finally make its home opener against Vanderbilt on Nov. 10.

The Herd will then have a three week layoff before traveling to Miami University on Nov. 29-31 for the Miami Invitational and enjoy a winter break in Florida for a neutral site match up with Towson and Toledo in Orlando on Dec. 18.

Marshall returns to Huntington on Jan. 12 for its final home event against former MAC rival Akron before heading to Ohio for a duel meet with the Bobcats on Jan. 22.

The Herd will get a first glimpse of Conference USA competition on Feb. 2 as it travels to East Carolina to face off with the Pirates, as well as Wingate and Catawba.

The C-USA Championships will be hosted by the University of Houston on Feb. 22-March 1 at the CWRC Natatorium.

"I think we've put together a really competitive schedule again this season," Kraus said. "Obviously we have a lot of road meets, and it will be a challenge to compete in the hostile environments."

Distance/Mid-Distance
The distance squad should be strong spot for the Herd once again and possibly deeper than ever before. All three of the team's captains are from this group. Ashley McIlvain, Renee Lambert and Danielle Chappelle will not only be the vocal leaders but also the leaders in the pool. Look for all three seniors to make improvements as they compete in their final year. McIlvain and Chappelle's events will base around the mile and 500 yards, while Lambert will focus primarily on the 500 where she holds the second fast time in the Marshall record book.

"I have a lot of confidence in my captains both in their leadership qualities as well as their work ethic in the pool." Kraus said.

The seniors will not be alone as sophomore transfer Jenny Johnsson looks to be a strong addition the 500 and very well could push for the top spot in both the 1000-yard and mile events. Look for a trio of freshmen to log a good deal of races in Jenae Moreno, Lauren Fairbanks and Taylor Brown. All three newcomers are very talented and should push each other in training. In addition, seniors Jessica Prater and Sarah Brunette will also be swinging for the fences their final year.

"Jessica has a lion's heart and is one of the most versatile swimmers we have ever had at Marshall and Sarah will be making a bit of a transition this year from a pure distance swimmer into a mid-distance specialist and we think that will give her a spark. " Kraus said.

Sprint
After losing mainstays Cara Davison and Emily Edmonson, the sprints group will undergo major changes in 2007. Stepping up to fill the lead roles are junior Kyla Jungclaus and sophomore Briana Burns.

"I am asking a lot of these two young women as well as the rest of the sprint group," Kraus said. "It very well could fall on them as to how well this year's team performs."

Joining Jungclaus and Burns are senior Ashley Ezell and five freshmen. Among the freshmen are Moreno, Fairbanks, Meghan Robinson, Katie Chmielewski and Kelsie Cannon working hard to improve this group and each other.

Butterfly
Kayla Truswell will lead butterfly group this year. After having mono for the first half of the season, Truswell was still able to swim personal bests in both the 100 and 200 events and Kraus and the Herd are looking for some great swims from her this season. Truswell will also have a strong supporting cast at the 200 distance in seniors Lauren Goodwin, Chappelle and sophomores Kristin Wheatley and Johnsson as well as Samantha Noland and freshman Susie Velte in both the 100 and 200 distances. One other lady that will see plenty of 100 butterfly swims is junior Camilla Overup.

"I am excited about this group because every one of my flyers has a chance to make big strides and make this a discipline that the team can count on meet in and meet out for big points," said Kraus.

Backstroke
Look for the sophomore duo of Erin Kennedy and Kelsie Eberly as well as junior Camilla Overup to lead the Herd in the backstroke.

"Erin just missed the school record in the 200 backstroke at conference, and I believe that has pushed her and given her confidence to have a great sophomore year.

"Kelsie came on strong at the end of the year and it could propel her into a big second year," Kraus said.

Overup had an up and down year as a sophomore but that could be useful for this season's campaign. "Camilla is hungry and that is a good sign" Coach Kraus states. Look for transfer Johnsson and freshmen Kristi Schroeder, Velte and Brown to play important roles in the backstroke events.

Breaststroke
Michaela Sceli is once again Marshall's top returning breaststroker. The Ontario, Canada, native has had two years of continued improvement and has lowered the school records in both breaststroke races. This year looks to be no different.

"Michaela has trained very hard this summer and I believe she is setting herself up for a chance to make the NCAA Championship meet," Kraus said. "She has that kind of talent and desire."

"Micky" as Sceil is known by her teammates is not the only talent in this stroke. Freshman Kelli Novak could be a big surprise to opposing teams this season. Novak has a strong 100 and is working hard to develop her 200. Senior Erin Hill is also ready for a great season. After being a finalist in the 100 breast at conference her sophomore year, Hill suffered injuries that took most of her junior season away. Now healthy again Hill has is looking bright.

"Erin has to talent to final in both events at conference," Kraus emphasizes. "She has done it once and, I believe she can do it again."

Ally Melinsky had a great first year and Coach Kraus thinks the sky is the limit for the sophomore. Melinsky could push for the top spot on the team not only in the breaststroke events but her individual medley events as well

"With Ally, it is a confidence and belief thing, not merely a talent thing" say Kraus. Beside those four also look for contributions to be made by freshman Wheatley, Lauren Goodwin, and Burns.

Individual Medley
Goodwin had a strong junior season and made vast improvements in the individual medley events, breaking the Marshall 400 IM record. She will be counted on to help lead the group in 2007. Wheatley had a solid first season and push Goodwin for the No.1 spot all year. For the team to do as well this year, it will need more great performances from the IM group.

Look for Johnsson to challenge for the top spot in the 400. The newcomer enters with a personal best that beats the Marshall event record by more than two-tenths of a second. Another IM competitor to keep an eye on is Karli Alsop. After an impressive freshman campaign, Alsoop looks to improve and play an even bigger part for the team in the upcoming year. Also look for Melinsky, McIlvain, Hill, Spake and Truswell all to swim the IM events during the year.

Diving
Marshall will be deeper than ever this year on the diving roster with two recruits coming in to compliment a pair returnees led by junior Siobhan Schuurman.

"Siobhan has made steady progress during her two years here, and we are looking for a breakout year," Coach Meierbachtol said. "We see her going toe-to-toe with everyone's No. 1 diver and at the end of the year competing at NCAAs."

Fellow junior Rachel Hannum is also coming off a successful sophomore campaign and she looks to continue to improve her diving list and degree of difficulty of her dives. Incoming freshman Haley Holmquist and Jordan Weber have had good success at the high school level finishing third and fifth respectively at the Florida High School State Meet last fall. Both divers look to improve and bring depth to the squad while pushing for spots on the travel squad.

"Coach Meierbachtol and I are both extremely excited about Haley and Jordan," Kraus said. "We both think that their best days of diving are ahead of them."