UIC's men's swimming and diving team will have the spotlight Friday, when they open their season against Michigan State.  "To bring in a team from the Big Ten like Michigan State raises the level of competition right away," said head coach Tim Loeffler, who scheduled the men's-only meet so that the coaching staff can devote their entire focus on what the team will need to work on over the rest of the regular season.

As the team prepared for their meet with the Spartans, Loeffler shared his perspective on the 2018-19 season.

Overview

"We've got a lot of talent through the entire group," Loeffler said, adding, "it's finding ways to have that shine.  I think we have a lot of variables that other teams won't expect.  So for us, it's utilizing every option that we have and making sure that a lot of swimmers who have a lot of different tools are getting opportunities to show them off."

Early season meets against Big Ten competition including Michigan State, Northwestern, and Illinois, as well as NAIA national champion Olivet Nazarene, D-III powerhouse Chicago, and Butler – all before Horizon League competition starts – will offer the squad challenges that will pay off later in the season.  "The last couple of years we've come out of the gates ready.  This year it's going to require patience.  Our men's team has one of the most talented groups of freshmen we've ever had.  So it's seeing how they're going to handle the experience.  We will see how we handle the first few meets, and see what we need to change, but confidence-wise I know we'll be strong by the end of the year."

Butterfly

"We've got a really solid core of butterflies," Loeffler noted.  Junior Luke Hutchinson won fly events at a handful of meets last season.  Frank Ruppel was a consistent top-8 finisher, and fellow sophomore Eric Weng gained valuable experience.  "We're looking for Frank Ruppel to have a great year this year, and the same for Eric Weng.  We have a great freshman in Mitch Milosch, who's showing he can already handle some relay spots in fly.  Luke Hutchinson is coming back, who's one of the top 200 butterfliers in the conference.  We also have a junior college transfer, Gabby Sasia, who with his times coming in put him as a top-8 finalist for the Horizon League 200 fly."

Backstroke

"We've got our junior duo of Michael Tegeler and Danny Sivak, who have been veterans ever since their freshman year in the 100 and 200 backstroke," Loeffler started.  Tegeler had four wins last season and had a podium finish in the Horizon League 100 back.  Sivak was a triple-finalist at the conference meet, qualifying in both backstroke races as well as the 200 IM – a race he won four times during the season.  "Connor Mitsch is already off to a good start so we're excited to see what he's able to do.  Frank Ruppel will be a two-stroke combo, as will Mitch Milosch."

Breaststroke

"Eric Sgarbossa was our big guy in the conference tournament last year," Loeffler said of the team's Most Improved Swimmer.  "Danny Sivak can show us what he's able to do there.  Evan Johnson, more on the sprint side of things, and Kyle Lewarchick, a freshman, can put out a pretty good 200 breaststroke for us."  Johnson showed consistent improvement in his 100 breast times last season.  Breaststroke will offer the Flames opportunities to improve their showing at the conference meet, as only two swimmers placed in the top 16 across both breaststroke races last year.

Freestyle

Veteran leadership will pace the Flames in the distance freestyle events, while newcomers will have chances to contribute in the sprint races.  "Michael Tegeler showed us at the end of last year that he can be a great 200 freestyler, so we're excited for him to lead that group," Loeffler said.  "We've also got Nick Koto and Nathan Jesko, going between the 500 and 200."  Tegeler took fourth in the conference in the 200, while Koto earned points in the 500 and 200 in virtually every meet.  Jesko showed range, competing in the 1000 and 1650 throughout 2017-18.

"With our longer distance we've got two of the best returners in the conference with Luke Hutchinson and Hunter Crook."  Hutchinson won the 1650 at conference in a school-record time.  Crook also broke the previous school record in finishing second to Hutchinson in the 1650.  "Going along with them we have Gavin Wicklander who could step up right away, and Jacob Cunningham, who is showing us that he can do more in the 200 and 500 this year.

"Connor Homans is leading a really young group of sprint freestylers.  We're looking toward guys like Josh Dellorto and Peter Andreev, who are freshmen, to step into those sprint events.  Ethan Lee is coming off a good summer and we're expecting him to step it up as well."

Diving

"Exciting" was the word that diving coach Susan Bromberg used repeatedly when discussing the prospects of her team.  Andrew Lewarchick earned top-5 finishes on both boards at conference and was a double-NCAA Zone qualifier.  Sean Scarry returns for his senior season with a long history of final-round Horizon League experience and NCAA Zone qualifications.  Ryan Murphy finished his freshman year with consolation final qualifications on both boards.

"It's going to be a fun year because of Andrew, Sean, and Felix LaFortune," Bromberg predicted.  "Andrew has had a lot of experience and that really helps him.  Felix wasn't able to compete last year so nobody really knows what he can do.  With those three, along with Ryan, we're going to be a force to be reckoned with.  They're so competitive, and competitive with each other in practice, it just brings that diving level up."

2018-19 Schedule

After meets with regional and local powers, all in the month of October, the Flames will open conference competition against two teams that Loeffler deems "two of our biggest rivals" in Oakland and Milwaukee on consecutive weekends.  The team will compete in the annual three-day TYR Invitational at Northwestern before taking a training break through the holidays.

Loeffler said, "I set up our schedule for this year so that we won't be surprised by anything we see at conference.  In January we'll do a two day competition at IUPUI [the site of the conference meet], which will give us a taste of what the facility is like and give us a practice run.  Then we'll have our senior day a week later against Green Bay who in recent years has become our rival in dual meets.  It seems like they bring their absolute best when we swim them.  We hope to finish on a good note to get us ready for the conference championships."
 
The diving squad will host the annual UIC Diving Invitational February 2.  Other than that, the team will have nearly a month from the end of the dual season to prepare for the Horizon League Championships February 13-16.