The Quincy University men’s swim team has been preparing for the GLVC Swim Conference with the intention of having swimmers qualify for the NCAA Championships after last year’s debacle of not having enough athletes on the team to qualify. During the 2022-2023 season, Wyatt Walsh was ranked seventh, heading into Nationals (the NCAA Championships), but ended up not being able to compete due to the team having 10 swimmers, when the requirement to compete is 11 swimmers on the team. Walsh is currently the only swimmer ranked for Nationals on the team, ranking seventh again, although more of the men on the team could qualify after the GLVC Conference.  

To break it down, everyone on the team will compete in the GLVC Conference, including the women’s team. It’s the biggest meet of the season for most of the athletes, as it determines who gets to compete in the NCAA Championships. Most swimmers go into it with the goal of placing in the top 24 times in an event. The team will compete in the GLVC Conference on Feb. 6-10. 

For Nationals, swimmers have to get selected and have a B time or an A time. Currently, Walsh and Borna Kisasondi both have B cuts and are believed to be going to the NCAA Championships, although nothing is set in stone until the week after the GLVC Conference, as without an A time cut, swimmers must be selected to compete after narrowing down times. The Hawks will compete in the NCAA Championships on March 5–9 during spring break.

Corbett Wilson, said that the team’s really excited about Nationals. Wilson said it’ll be interesting to see how the team will do, as they know they are a fast team. 

 “It’s exciting, it’s going to be much more competitive. The competition there is just insane. (The team is) going to see a lot of really fast swimmers and will have to push (themselves) very, very hard,” said Wilson.

According to Faith Cummings, the men’s 200 freestyle relay is 0.2 seconds away from the national A cut time, and the men are working really hard to drop those 0.2 seconds off their time at the GLVC Conference in order to compete at the NCAA Championships. 

“(The team has) been training all year and working really hard, so leading up to the Conference is really fine tuning and perfecting our swims. It’s time to race and have fun. I think we are all ready and very excited to see what happens,” Cummings said.

Walsh said he was disappointed with last year’s not being able to compete and feels relieved to have his team behind him this year. Walsh is hoping to see more of his teammates make the cut for Nationals after the upcoming GLVC Conference.