A mix of hard work and a focused, confident attitude has set the women’s swimming and diving team on a seven dual meet winning streak.

“They’re confident in their abilities,” Head Coach Paula Miller said. “They think, ‘Let’s just focus on us and not worry about the other teams.’ If we just focus on us, hopefully we’re doing everything right.”

The team, still riding hot off of its 10-day training trip in December to Puerto Rico, has been dominating against opponents, while breaking multiple pool records in the process.

At the meet against Alfred University on Saturday, junior Sheila Rhoades met the NCAA Qualifying Standard in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 52.5 seconds, setting a Hill Center Pool record. With Rhoades setting the tone, every swimmer on the team is prepared to do her part and step up the competition.

“Each time we had a race, every girl went in there and did their job,” junior Teresa Sierzega said. “It was a high-energy meet. We beat them by a lot, but they had a lot of good swimmers, so we didn’t walk in there thinking we were going to win. We walked in there ready to compete.”

At the Ithaca Diving Invitational on Sunday, freshman Heather Markus placed second in the one-meter and third in the three-meter. Markus’ performance characterizes how everyone on the team — even the underclassmen — are already contributing toward the team’s success this season.

The success the South Hill squad has had at the meets following the winter training trip has Miller excited for the team’s run at the postseason.

“They’ve been excellent at meets after winter training when they’re so tired,” she said. “I was very impressed with our win Saturday and the times that they achieved because they are tired. They’re beat up. I was very happy with that performance. It means a brighter future for our championships.”

After the winter training trip, the team was swimming a high intensity workload of practices twice a day, but now the team is back to one practice a day.

“After next week we are into tapering, which is a lot less,” Sierzega said. “Tapering will rest our muscles to get a peak performance at states.”

A contributing factor to the team’s winning streak is the leadership on the team.

“The captains, seniors Shannon Archer and Laura Kucsan, are doing a wonderful job leading the swimmers,” Miller said. “Shannon Archer took two years off, and she’s starting to hit her full stride. She knows what a team should be like, and she communicates that.”

On the diving side, Diving Coach Nate Brisley acknowledged senior Naomi Mark, sophomore Jodi Costello and Markus as big contributors to the team’s winning streak. He also praised junior Katie Kaiser for being an asset to the team this year.

“Katie, who is a first-year diver and a former gymnast, has really come into her own,” Brisley said. “To be able to do what she has done in the time frame that she has done it is amazing.”

Though the Bombers are having a successful season, both the swimming and diving teams have had midseason struggles, mostly injury-related.

“Every diver should have a mid-season low,” Brisley said. “That’s why it’s mid-season. You don’t want them peaking too soon. You want to try and time a midseason low as best you can as a coach so everything can start building up from there.”

Looking forward, Miller said that the Blue and Gold are well prepared for championship-level competition.

“We have to go in with the attitude,” Miller said. “We have to fight for it. It’s not going to be given to us on a plate. We have to go in and respect the other teams and do the best we can, like we’ve been doing every meet. They’ve stepped up to the challenges. They haven’t been threatened or backed down.”