The Pace swimming and diving season came to an end on Feb. 22 as the Setters competed in the Metropolitan Championships at Rutgers University. The end of the season signified the end of a challenging year, one that head Coach Dan Allen described as a “transition year.”

Dwindling numbers and a change in culture proved to be a struggle for the team, with Allen noting that things didn’t always go as smoothly as he would have liked. Players weren’t always on board with the new philosophies being implemented and there was a running sense of “I” instead of “we.”

One of the biggest drawbacks during the season was that the team didn’t have the “internal belief that they can be great,” according to Allen. His challenge became convincing the team and making sure that they understood that they needed to put in the work in order to see the results.

Freshman swimmer Katie Scarlett Loughlin finished up her first season with the Setters and noted that after 15 years, she has never had as rigorous a training as she did this past season.

“Coach Dan [Allen] follows a regimen based on set rest and heart rate,” said Loughlin, who was named NE-10 Rookie of the Week twice. “This type of training puts a lot of responsibility on the athletes to push themselves, because I am the person who has to check my heart rate and adjust my effort accordingly. I had a season I was really proud of. This season I put more effort and heart into than any other swim season of my life.”

The training regime, the inner belief, and success of recruitment become the three key areas that Allen notes will be the recipe for a successful team.

Allen notes that with an established core group, building personal relationships with team members became a crucial first step. Allen works hard to make sure he gets to know his players on a more personal level and he hopes that his players will try and do the same, but he expressed some concern regarding the “millennial” generation.

He expressed that one of the issues with the millennial generation is that they are afraid to come talk to him and engage with him.

“It’s a challenge because some of them don’t really know how to communicate their feelings,” Allen said. “This then translates into having issues to work as a team because we aren’t always on the same page. That told culture belief was more ‘I wanna get mine,’ and to be a great caliber team, you need to have a team first mentality.”

This new mentality will be a bit easier to implement come the fall with several new recruits joining the team and counting. Allen believes that a strong recruiting system is the key piece for building a program over time.

The new freshman coming in, which are already familiar with the expectations and beliefs that Allen wants to apply on the team, will be the necessary ingredient in order to inspire this wave of change.

“I already got about 12 girls who are committed, which would bring the total for the women’s side to 24, and on the men’s side, we only had five players this past season, so those numbers need to go up,” Allen said. “We have a good core right now, but we don’t have the numbers we need. Once we get those numbers it will certainly change the dynamic of the team.”

Only five men on the team proved to be a challenge in more ways than one. Allen mentioned that a lot of times, the team had to recruit other male athletes from baseball, lacrosse, cross country, and football to join the team in order to be able to qualify for meets and to not lose sponsorships.

It was a huge stress for the coach, who expressed great happiness in knowing that it was over. Despite the difficulties, Allen believes that the team goes forward with a strong “nucleus of kids,” noting that the attitude of the team and training regime improved as the season progressed.

The final piece will be strengthening up the diving team with some fresh blood. With two female divers returning and two more on the recruiting list, as well as two males, Allen hopes for a group of four or six kids to round out the team.

“A lot of people think that the diving teams in our conference are weak, but I don’t believe that,” Allen said. “I believe that diving needs to be just as good in order to elevate the program. Having more divers means more points that can help your team as whole.”