Getting to Know Wesleyan Swimming

wesleyan swimming

By Lauren Williams, Swimming World College Intern

The New England Small College Athletic Conference is one of the most competitive Division III conferences in the NCAA, and Wesleyan Swimming is looking to make an impact.

With four men’s teams and three women’s teams ranked in the top 25, it’s a challenge to fight your way to the top of the pack. Yet, Wesleyan Swimming’s head coach Peter Solomon is ready to take it on and transform his teams into top-three NESCAC programs.

“I feel that we have all the ingredients to quickly become one of the top teams in the NESCAC Conference, and by doing so, we can also become a Top 10 team in Division III,” Solomon said. “Fortunately for us, some of the best Division III programs in the country are fellow NESCAC schools.”

The head coach boasts a resume of coaching schools in the NESCAC. In 1993, Solomon took the reigns as the head coach at Amherst College, until leaving in 1997. That year, he became the head coach of Middlebury College, where he remained until 2011. Now, in his third season at Wesleyan, Solomon is putting the pieces in place to take his team to the next level.

“To accomplish these lofty goals is similar to putting a jigsaw puzzle together,” he said. “It requires finding all the right pieces and putting them together one piece at a time.  Even in the short time that I’ve been at the helm here at Wesleyan, I’ve seen a turning of the tide.”

Since 2012, Solomon has helped to double the men’s roster size and as a result has added more depth to the team.

“The men’s team has doubled in size from the 11 men that were on the roster when I first took over the team in 2012,” Solomon said. “We graduated 5 seniors last year and brought in 17 freshmen this season.  Wesleyan had its first NCAA Qualifier in more than six years last season when Angela Slevin qualified in both the 500 and 1650 freestyle.”

With these successes in hand, Solomon hopes to ride this momentum and continue building a team that has more swimmers qualifying for NCAA Championships in March. The head coach strongly believes that “Happy swimmers are Faster swimmers” and that is something he cites as one of the most important lessons he has learned from being a coach.

“There are a lot of variables that go into fast swimming,” he said. “But, one of the most important ingredients to fast swimming is team dynamics and a supportive and competitive team environment where swimmers swim not just for themselves, but for their teammates and coaches.”

The team also makes a conscience effort to have a close bond with their community. Recently, the group joined TeamImpact, a nonprofit that matches children with chronic illnesses to local college programs.

This year the team drafted Aliana Fichera, a local 9 year old girl who suffers from Common Variable Immunodeficiency (CVID). Fichera’s illness makes it easier for her to get sick when she comes into contact with germs, bacteria and viruses.

Lauren Williams, a Baylor School alum, is a graduate journalism major at Syracuse.  The Jamaican National Teamer swam as an undergrad at Mount Holyoke.

 

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use

2 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Brenda Williams
Brenda Williams
9 years ago

As a parent of a Wesleyan swimmer, I have to agree that the student swimmers, even with great apparent diversity, all seem to like each other and enjoy doing fun activities together lead by our coach. Our son, as a senior, will miss the camaraderie when he graduates in May 2015, but hopefully he will stay in touch with his teammates wherever they travel and continue to swim and stay fit because it is fun to do. Peter Solomon makes swimming fun while instilling a good work ethic in his team. As a parent, I am grateful!

Brenda Williams

Nadine Angress
Nadine Angress
9 years ago

I graduated from Wesleyan in 1990 and was the manager of the Men’s and Women’s swim teams for all 4 years at Wes. To this day, some of my closest friends and people I stay in touch with are from the swim team. I am glad to see that Coach Solomon works to instill camaraderie in his swimmers. These friendships will last a lifetime.

2
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x