The University of the Incarnate Word synchronized swimming team officially kicked off its 2010-11 season this Saturday with its annual Water Show and Silent Auction. The annual event, which was set to the theme of “Disney on Melted Ice,” is a major source of fundraising for the UIW program and the local sister program – the Cignets of San Antonio.
“We've been doing this for eight years and this was absolutely our best show,” head coach Kim Wurzel-LoPorto said.
Hosting two shows in one day, the Cardinals and their younger teammates swam to many songs from the Walt Disney library from feature films like “The Little Mermaid,” “Alice in Wonderland,” “The Jungle Book,” and “Toy Story.” The show, while a major source of income for all the programs involved, had an overall theme of fun and flair incorporating not only the usual skills and tricks of a synchro program, but props and the appearance of the 2010-11 UIW Freshman Men's Swimming team and faculty member Dr. Timothy Henrich.
“This was fun and it's a great fundraiser for us and it helps us get into the synchro 'mode' of swimming and drilling routines,” LoPorto explained, “but now, starting Monday, it's going to be choreographing; making sure our teams are ready to go for January. We've got to really focus and bear down for the season.”
The team's first competition is on January 28th on the road against Stanford University, the 2009-10 Collegiate National Championship runners-up behind Ohio State. Incarnate Word finished third behind the two powerhouse programs and made great strides towards closing the gap between UIW and the other two schools.
This year, Incarnate Word has eight freshman athletes on their roster, most of which will make up the Second Team for the season to allow them the ability to create chemistry and a core of swimmers to be the heart of the program for the next few years.
“I think it's great to have such a young group,” LoPorto said. “We're going to eventually lose six juniors and our two seniors, but it's great because they're eager and, yes they are young – but almost all of them are going to be on our Black Squad and have the opportunity to really enhance all of their skills and get the experience of swimming in a national competition.
“We're actually a young team. We have a good group of sophomores to go with that freshman class and the hope is that they'll be with us for another 3 or four years and give us a dynamite team to go after a championship.”
UIW has two returning seniors – Alex Stensby and Elizabeth Norton – six juniors – Hannah Creaser, Saki Fujise, Molly Knight, Natalie Krakoski, Ingrid Lundblad, and Anna Nelson – and three sophomores – Briana Andreychuk, Rosilyn Tegart and Leah Wallace – making up the rest of the largest squad in Cardinal program history.
“Last year was great,” LoPorto said, “But this year's team wants to win. They want a championship ring, so they've put additional pressure on themselves because they know that this is the best squad that we've ever had and they're willing to do whatever it takes to get gold.”
