WILKES-BARRE – The Wilkes University men's and women's swimming teams are set to begin competition for the 2021-2022 season under the guidance of fourth-year head coach Thomas Limouze. The two teams are set to return to a more traditional setting with meets featuring head-to-head competition in the same pool against their opponents after the 2020-2021 season was conducted in a condensed fashion with a virtual swim meet setting due to the pandemic.

"The excitement level is really high," Limouze said as the team gears up for the season. "Sophomores have never been on the road with the team, so I think they and the others are excited for things like the bus ride, seeing other campuses and other pools. Facing other teams head-to-head will be a big motivation for them too."
 
Wilkes will rely on the leadership of its captains throughout the season both inside the pool and out.
 
"I have a great group of captains, Emilie Detweiler (Muncy, PA/Hughesville) and Abby Keating (Spring Grove, PA/Spring Grove Area) on the women's side, and Shane Miller (Oneonta, NY/Oneonta) and Trey Harloff (Apex, NC/Apex Friendship) on the men's side," Limouze said of his upperclassman leadership. "They're committed to supporting their teammates and holding each other accountable."
 
The Colonels men's team placed 11th of 14 teams at the 2021 Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Championships last season and return 10 swimmers to the roster.
 
Seniors Harloff, Daniel Micozzi (Lindenhurst, NY/Lindenhurst), and Miller make up the most experienced group for this edition of the Colonels. Harloff is the program record holder in the 200 IM with a time of 2:00.14 that he set at the 2020 MAC Championships. He is also a part of four relay records in the 400 and 800 Free and the 200 and 400 Medley. Harloff specializes in the Breaststroke, Butterfly, and IM while Micozzi specializes in the Freestyle and Breaststroke and Miller in the Butterfly and Freestyle.

Chris Gowarty (Scranton, PA/West Scranton), Keith Nissen (Bloomsburg, PA/Central Columbia), Mason Thrush (Carlisle, PA/Big Spring), and Liam White (Cortlandt Manor, NY/Walter Panas) make up the Colonels junior class. Gowarty's specialties are the Butterfly, Freestyle, and Sprint while Nissen will participate in the Freestyle and Sprints. Thrush and White are both Freestylers.

Christian Mavus (Nanticoke, PA/Nanticoke), Stephen Verosko (Gainesville, VA/Patriot), and Jared Weyandt (Reading, PA/Exeter Township Senior) return as sophomores and will see their first true collegiate swimming meet experience this season. Mavus specializes in the Freestyle while Verosko focuses on the Butterfly and Freestyle. Weyandt participates in the Breaststroke.

Limouze is excited to see what consistent training will do for both the men's and the women's teams this season.

"I'm excited for all of them to see what they can do with consistent training after a difficult year and a half," Limouze remarked. "Some of the swimmers are going to have to adjust expectations, but others are going to see that they can really excel with good consistent training."

The Colonels women's team returns five swimmers from last year's team that placed 13th of 14 teams at the 2021 MAC Championships.

Keating returns to the program as a fifth-year Pharmacy student. She currently holds seven program individual records including the 100 Free (56.12), 100 Back (1:03.50), 200 Back (2:19.60), 100 Fly (1:02.49), 200 Fly (2:16.29), 200 IM (2:13.63), and 400 IM (4:44.85). Keating placed second in the 400 IM at the 2018 MAC Championships to earn Second Team All-MAC honors as a first year.

Detweiler returns for her senior season to focus on the Breaststroke for the Colonels.

Juniors Alexa Crossgrove (Harleysville, PA/Souderton Area) and Maddy Kinard (Dover, PA/Dover Area) return with impressive resumes already to their names. Crossgrove holds five individual program records. The Freestyle swimmer participates in both the Sprint and Distance events with success as she holds records in the 50 Free (25.22), 200 Free (1:57.17), 500 Free (5:19.74), 1000 Free (11:19.95), and the 1650 Free (18:42.00). Kinard holds a share of the 100 Backstroke record with Keating and also competes in the IM.

Keating, Crossgrove and Kinard are also record holders in the 200 Free Relay, 200 Medley Relay and 400 Medley Relay races. Keating and Crossgrove are members of the 400 Free Relay record holding team and Keating also was a part of the 800 Free Relay record.

Sophomore Kara Foster (Brookville, PA/Brookville Jr. Sr.) rounds out the Colonels roster as she specializes in the Freestyle.

Both teams will compete in five dual meets along with one tri-meet with five of those coming against MAC opponents and all but one meet on the road.

They will also compete at the three-day Diamond City Invitational hosted by King's from November 19th-21st and the Misericordia Invitational on December 4th and 5th. The regular season leads to the four-day 2022 MAC Championships which will be held in York, Pa. in the Graham Aquatic Center on February 10th-13th.

"We added another invitational meet hosted by Misericordia at Dallas High School that will be similar to the Diamond Invitational," Limouze said of the schedule. "Both meets are based off the old conference championships format, and while it's not the same order of events as we're using now at MACs it is still a good chance to focus on primary events for swimmers. With two invites swimmers will have another opportunity to try on some events that may work for the MAC championships."  

The season gets underway with a road meet at Fairleigh Dickinson University-Florham Campus in Madison, N.J. on Saturday, October 23 at 1:00 p.m. The Colonels only home meet this season is scheduled for Saturday, January 22 at 1:00 p.m. against Lycoming College at the Wyoming Catholic Youth Center.