John Kasey '08--So far the Wabash Swimming and Diving Team has made exceptional progress during our trip here in Florida. We have worked long and hard to set ourselves up for great competition in January and in February at the NCAC conference meet. Today we continued our grueling practices but under much different conditions. Temperatures dropped below their normal sunny 80’s to a high of 58 degrees. Such conditions made for less than favorable outdoor swimming. However, we did receive a break for our evening practice in the form of our former leader Peter Casares. I was fortunate enough today to load one of our big white vans with fifteen eager upperclassmen and travel a few minutes south to Deerfield Beach where Coach Casares and his new Bates College swimming and diving team have been laboring to improve their own season.

We had the opportunity to jump in the water with the Bates team and swim one more frigid practice under the leadership of Coach Casares. Although, we did end up getting out of the water earlier than expected due to the extremely cold weather, the practice was a success. After practice we headed back to our old stomping grounds at The Carriage House Resort Motel where we played a few heated games of shuffleboard against the still undefeated Coach Casares. After a number of unregulated foot faults on the part of Casares, the victory was stolen from Paul Wilson and I (at least that’s how I saw it happen) with a score of 15 to 69.

In all, the day was an interesting one for the entire team. We braved the cold weather for another day in the pool and one more chance to train under the watchful eyes of Coach Casares. The Bates team was very accommodating and we wish them the very best of luck in the remainder of their season.

The Little Giant swimmers and divers have a lot more in store for them and I am excited to see everyone working so hard. Experiences like these will make this team a tough one to beat.