Cardinals ready to begin new season this weekend

WASHINGTON – The CUA swimming teams are set to begin their season this weekend as the Cardinals will compete in a pair of meets.  On Friday, CUA will host American and George Washington, while on Saturday the same three teams will get together, this time on the campus of American University.

Head coach Paul Waas, now in his third season, is excited to get things started on Friday.  "We've been swimming for a couple of weeks now as a full team and we're starting to get in good shape," he said.  "We have a large and talented freshmen class that has brought energy and enthusiasm to the pool and we're anxious to see them perform this weekend."

He went onto say, "We have a much bigger team than we had last year.  We're stronger on both sides (men's and women's) and really have good depth and numbers throughout the program."

CUA last competed as a team in February when the Cardinals swam at the Landmark Conference championships.  Now ready to embark on a new season, Waas spoke about what the Cardinals have been doing in preparation for 2010-11.

"Our training has been increasing over the last few weeks," Waas said.  "It's been more general than it will be after this weekend.  Once this weekend is complete we'll specialize into groups and begin training that way."

Friday's meet is scheduled to begin at 5:00, while Saturday's action will get underway starting at 10:00 AM.  "This will be a nice way for us to start our season," Waas said.  "We still have two more weeks before our dual season starts so this will allow us to swim all events and really gauge where we're at.  It's also a great chance to compete against two of the local Division I schools."

He added, "We'll use this weekend as a measuring tool.  It's going to be a process that we keep working at, but this gives us a starting point from which to work."