Oct. 16, 2009

Maryland Men's Swimming and Diving Preview

This is part four of a five-part series previewing the Maryland men's swimming and diving season.

Tuesday - Freestyle
Wednesday - Backstroke
Thursday - Breaststroke
Today - Fly and IM
Monday, Oct. 19 - Diving and Overview

The Maryland men's swimming and diving team returns senior Aleksandar Damjanic and sophomore Andrew Relihan to pace the fly and IM events in 2009-10.

"The fly and IM are four really strong events for us," Schimmel said.

Damjanic has had a stellar career with the Terps and was crowned Croatian national champion in the 200 fly over the summer. He had the best season of his career last year, placing fifth in the 200 fly (1:45.88) and seventh in the 100 fly (47.72) at the ACC Championships.

"I'm excited about Aleksander being a senior," Schimmel said. "His focus and passion right now is way ahead of the game compared to where he was last year. He has a vision of what he wants to do and he's on that path to get it done."

Joining Damjanic as top returners is Relihan. He landed on the podium with a third-place finish in the 200 IM (1:46.03) at the ACC Championships last season as only a freshman and established Maryland school records in the 200 IM (1:46.03) and 400 IM (3:48.40). He was also an individual point scorer while placing sixth in the 400 IM (3:48.42).

"The way he developed last year as a freshman, he took big steps and made an impact on our team and in our conference," Schimmel said. "He is very much in-line to keep that rolling and build on that as a sophomore."

Sophomore Sean Stewart and senior Roger Dent are also poised to make an impact in the 2009-10 season.

Newcomer Jeff Winters is a strong fly competitor coming out of high school that will immediately help lead the 100 fly.