After graduating multiple key seniors last season, expectations for the Rowan men’s swim team this upcoming season weren’t high. The team, however, has shown that there is some strong promise already for a team with multiple underclassmen playing pivotal roles. Sophomore Josh Oliveira is one of these underclassmen, and so far this season, he has built off some of the successes he had in his freshman year.
Oliveira hails from Danbury, Connecticut, and got involved in swimming at the age of four. Oliveira joined his first swim program after a family that had lost their son. They turned their pain into purpose and started a program to help kids learn to swim.
“The area that I live in there’s a big lake. There was an accident in the lake, so the family who had the accident with their kid drowning started a program, and I joined the program,” Oliveira said. “I started swimming in the lake, started swimming for the YMCA, and I’ve been on the YMCA team ever since.”
While swimming for Danbury High School, Oliveira had a decision to make on where he wanted to continue both his academic and athletic career after graduation.
“My social studies teacher in high school she has a son who holds records here. She was telling me about how if I wanted to do engineering and if I wanted to be a part of a competitive team, to look at Rowan. When I came, I really liked the team. The guys were very welcoming, and they became basically brothers the second I got here,” Oliveira said.
When arriving for practice in the offseason, his freshman year, head coach Brad Bowser already knew Oliveira was a talented swimmer, but there was one question on his mind.
“How can we get this small kid to swim like he’s 6-foot-3,” Bowser said.
Height is an important factor for swimmers, as some of the greatest swimmers of all time have been well over the average height. Oliveira is below that advantageous level of size, and it was important to Bowser that he made sure that he understood that, so he could elevate himself to greater heights. Oliveira’s efforts paid off, as he earned second-team All-American honors in the 400, a pretty good start to the career of a rising freshman.
Next up for Oliveira and the team is the Franklin & Marshall Invitational, a three-day event that starts Friday, Nov. 21st, and continues through Sunday, Nov. 23rd.
“We want to go into midseasons [Franklin & Marshall Invitational], really going for the win,” Oliveira said. “We have a great group of guys. We’ve been putting in a lot of practice. We know what we have to do for midseasons. Like I’ve said, we all look ready to swim hard.”
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