Oct. 21, 2010

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Head coach Sean Schimmel is pleased but not content when he discusses how far the Maryland women's swimming and diving program has come during his first two years at the helm.

Last season, Schimmel and the swimming community watched the Terps make waves at both the ACC and NCAA Championships. Maryland began its movement with a stellar league championship meet, finishing fourth after taking fifth a year prior. The Terps then took 25th at the NCAA Championships and secured Honorable Mention All-America status for swimmers Ginny Glover, Annie Fittin, Megan Lafferty and Laura Wright with 10th and 12th place finishes in the 200 free and 400 free relays, respectively.

"I'm happy with what we've accomplished so far but I'm not satisfied at all," Schimmel said. "I don't think we have even begun to scratch the surface. We must continue to build on that success."

Schimmel will keep the bar raised high for the Terps this season, despite losing a flurry of impactful seniors, including former All-American and ACC champion Jen Vogel.

"Coming into the 2010-11 season, we are looking to be better than ever before," Schimmel said. "With all that we accomplished last year, we certainly have our work cut out for us."

Schimmel will be relying heavily on his returning All-Americans in addition to a stellar incoming class to make a push for new horizons this season.

"We are capable of it - to be better than top 25 in NCAAs and producing more relay and individual All-Americans is certainly a goal," Schimmel said. "We want to be in the top echelon of teams at the ACC Championships and build on that by scoring more points.

"With great returners and leaders like Ginny, Annie and Megan coming back, we are certainly capable of doing that."

Before the Terps get into the grit of their schedule in February with the ACC Championships in Atlanta, it will look to improve during dual meet season. Maryland finished 10-2 last season, including conference wins over Duke, NC State and Miami.

"We are looking for some tough battles in dual meets," Schimmel said. "We have some very good ACC competition on the schedule and we want to beat some teams we came up short against last season."

Fittin and fellow senior Jessalyn Crawford will serve as captains this season, but Maryland will look at its entire senior class for leadership both in the pool and out. Seniors Stephanie Parker, Montana Puente and Blair Cross have also stepped up to help the younger Terps adapt to their new surroundings.

"Our returning women, from top to bottom, really have that desire and that work ethic and willingness that backs up the culture we need if we want to win," Schimmel said. "It's been really nice because all the new girls that have come in have seen that and have been led by that and are walking into that kind of winning culture.

"One of the keys and really nice things about our women's team is that even though we had a lot of athletes graduate, we have a very strong senior class that is taking a lot of pride in what we do. We have true leaders in that class, not just our captains."

Seven freshmen comprise Schimmel's latest recruiting class. He anticipates the group will contribute immediately.

"We are going to need them to step up to accomplish our goals this season," Schimmel said. "We have some big shoes to fill and we are going to need them to step up and go beyond what they've done before.

"Not only the freshmen, but some girls that were in the middle of the pack that did not impact us as much. We need them to step up to the next level and help fill some of those shoes that walked off the deck when they graduated last year."

Schimmel, who continually stresses what an honor it is to coach a group of student-athletes like this year's Maryland's squad, is also happy with how the recruiting efforts of his entire staff are coming to fruition.

"We certainly turned some heads in the ACC and also within the region with regards to recruiting," Schimmel said. "We are beginning to get athletes looking our way that, talent-wise, are going to help us get to that next level to be a top three team at ACCs and top 20 or top 15 at NCAAs."

The Terps realize the road ahead is far from short, with a schedule that spans over six months, and will need to stay driven to gain the ultimate prize at the end of the 2010-11 campaign.

"I'm happy with where we are but we still have a long way to go and we have a long season ahead of us," Schimmel said. "We are just starting. We got a long story to write to keep building on the success we have now."