The semester is coming to a close, but for some, the hard work is far from over.

Enter the men’s swimming and diving team.

Sure, they’ll get some time off for the holidays, but they aren’t as talented as they are for no reason. Head coach Brad Bowser expects the Profs to be stronger than they are now once they head back to competition in January.

“We give them practices for their specific groups,” Bowser said. “We give a weight program that the strength and conditioning writes out.”

The Brown and Gold will start winter break with two weeks at home until they head back to school to continue their training. Sophomore Kevin Gillooly’s training plans over break are simple.

“Keep grinding and spend some good time with my family,” Gillooly said.

The second year Prof had certainly made a splash this season, especially after a record-breaking performance at the WPI Invitational. He feels confident saying a national title was a goal for him by his senior year, but it now seems to be a realistic goal just in his sophomore campaign. There’s still work to do to get to where others in the country are, though.

“Right now, what I lack compared to some of the other swimmers in the country is the muscle and the strength,” Gillooly said. “So I want to definitely bulk up over the break.”

While the rest of us are going to be packing on the “Christmas calories” over break, Bowser knows the discipline required to build an elite unit and that is discipline not only in the water but also with their diet.

“These guys know when they come back if they’re not in shape they’re going to pay for it,” Bowser said.

While they have to be disciplined, the break is still a good time for the team to unwind from the everyday stress that the season brings with it.

“It was kind of rough getting back from the meet, just trying to recover and kind of get my feet back under me but definitely feel a lot better now,” Gillooly said. “I’m ready to get back at it.”

Bowser also sees it as an important time for the team to just focus on swimming and improving their craft.

“It’s [a time to] decompress from the everyday school work and the everyday grind of having to worry about what test [they have] or what paper is due next week,” Bowser said. “We’re together from Jan. 7 to Jan. 22 with no school whatsoever, which is nice. We see a lot of bonding during that time. We see the team come together. We work together as a whole and it’s really nice to see.”

After only a few days back, the team will pack their bags and head to sunny Florida where they’ll be staying together for a week in a beachfront hotel. This is not your grandparents’ winter trip to Florida to escape the cold, however, as they’ll be in a rigorous training program while they’re there.

“That week is going to be a really tough week for us as a team because we’re going to be practicing twice a day, have a lot of really tough practices,” Gillooly said. “But, that week kind of sets the rest of the season up and brings us together as a team to accomplish some really tough things and that way we know that when it comes March, or when it comes February, we’ve already done so much training together that we know we can accomplish anything.”

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