The swimming season is nearing its end, and with the NJAC (New Jersey Athletic Conference) Championships just around the corner, the Rowan men’s swim team is using all of its time to prepare for what looks to be an exciting end to a great season.

This weekend, the Profs will be heading to the University of Maryland for swimming’s first-ever NJAC Championships. The student-athletes have been training all season and testing their limits for the chance to come in first during the meet. 

“Everyone is super amped for it… I’m just excited to get in the pool, race with the guys, and just show everybody what we’ve been training for all year,” sophomore swimmer Henry Lynch said.

Through Lynch’s eyes, the team is strictly looking to dominate at NJACs; but there is another part of the season that the Profs can qualify for with some wins at NJACs, and that is for NCAAs. 

“They have to hit a standard that the NCAA comes up with,” Coach Brad Bowser said. “There’s an A standard which is an automatic qualification and a B standard that puts them into a pool… and including the automatics, you’d have to be in the top 16 times in the country.”

The NCAA goal is reachable for the Profs, but Bowser has them focusing on NJACs. If they place high and have good times, it could not only qualify them for NCAAs but win Rowan another trophy to put in the collection that’s in the hallway of Esby Gym.

Practices leading up to the weekend have been filled with high spirits. This isn’t just limited to players either, as Bowser believes that the practices have “been uplifting.” While they’re racing hard and making sure they’re getting enough rest, he notices that their stress levels have gone up also.

“…I think we’ve done enough prep work and enough mentally to keep these guys up and strong enough,” Coach Bowser said with confidence in his voice.

Practice and preparation are only half of the battle, and the Profs still have a long road ahead of them until they get to the University of Maryland. With the spare time, Henry Lynch has found ways to keep himself in championship mode even when he isn’t in the water.

“I’m gonna wake up around 8:30 and get a wake-up swim in with the guys. From then on, I’m gonna have food, I’ll bring clementines and fruits because the fruits keep you right. And I’ll have music and just visualizing my races,” Lynch said.

The band of young swimmers has really come together this season under Bowser, and he has taught them valuable lessons that can fuel them to first in NJACs.

“Swimming is a very individual sport,” Lynch said. “But Brad makes it seem like a team sport at the end of the day. We rely on each other… I had a situation this season where I had to swim back-to-back… and I’m huffing and puffing. But I look across the pool and I see my friend James and he’s doing the same thing with me and I know James is doing it so I gotta do it.”

The chemistry that has been built with this team really meshed together when the team went on their training trip during the winter break, and it seriously bonded and connected everyone together.

“We have a chemistry and a bond that’s just unbroken,” Lynch said.

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