With a newly filled pool and a week of practice under its belt, the University of Evansville swimming and diving team is starting preparations for a strong 2009-2010 season.

“Honestly it has been the best first week of practice since I have been here,” said Evansville head coach Rickey Perkins. “We changed the schedule up a lot just to try to create more unity on the team. I think our goal is to build a team that can trust each other, and the only way to do that is to have people be around each other. That is how we made the plan for training this season, and it has worked out so far.”

The upcoming season will bring a different setting for the men’s side, as the team joined the Mid-American Conference over the summer. Perkins welcomed the change from the Sun Belt Conference as he feels that the MAC will give the team a more even playing field.

The men’s swimming and diving team returns a core group from last year’s squad, including seniors Derek Bifulco, Josh Fletcher, Austin Murphy and Brad Tipton. Perkins also expects a lot from the team’s juniors and sophomores. Junior Chris Nash and sophomores Bryan Hamann and Jake Harrington come back to UE with the ability to compete at a high level for the Aces.

In addition to the 16 returners from last season, the men’s team adds six newcomers to the program, including Alex Seward, Justin Shotwell and Kyle Tiemann. “I think those guys will make a huge step, and they already raise our level at practices,” Perkins said.

On the women’s side, experience will be key as the team returns most everybody from last year, and Perkins expects them to be very strong in competition.

Perkins said that he feels many of the women will compete for titles in their specialties this season, including junior Christina Schmidgall and sophomores Alex Howard and Hannah Quast. The head coach has already seen improvements from many returners like junior Annie Shackelford and team captain Nicole Lodewyk.

“We have a lot of girls who came back with a commitment, and that is only going to make us better as a team,” Perkins said.

The Purple Aces welcome seven freshmen to the women’s team who bring a lot of talent to the group. Perkins believes that Jill Enge, Phoebe Hodina and Michea Reinitz can help the team rise to another level. With these newcomers, Perkins feels that the team has the right combination for success with the mix of skilled returners and freshmen.

UE opens the 2009-2010 season with the Purple/Orange Meet on Saturday, September 26 at Wyttenbach Pool.