Winter is on its way and Minnesotans are starting to pack away their swimsuits and beach towels to make room for winter coats and sleds. But the St. Thomas swimming and diving team is not ready to pack away their gear; in fact, they are preparing to begin the 2001-2002 season.

Led by Tom Hodgson, who is entering his 24th season as head coach, the men’s and women’s teams are optimistic.

The men’s team will miss All-American diver Steve Klugherz, who graduated last May. Despite the devastating loss of Klugherz, men’s senior captain Jon Waataja said he believes freshman Dave Linn will help ease the pain.

“Dave is one of our new freshmen swimmers and can go a 0:52 in the 100 backstroke,” Waataja said. “He will likely win conference in all backstroke events he swims. Also, he is one of the most level headed, sharp, and nicest guys you will ever meet.”

Linn has already showed signs of his potential during last Saturday’s St. Thomas relays, prompting Hodgson to expect fast times from Linn.

“[Linn] just missed the school record in the 100 backstroke leading off the 400 medley relay,” Hodgson said. “We expect him to be a presence in the national meet.” The strength of the women’s team lies in its balance and potential, Hodgson said.

“Our 200, 400 and 800 free relays are going to be very good,” he said. “We will be building from within in our distance events but have potential.”

But if the Tommies succeed this year they will have to credit Hodgson, who has striven to make both teams more than athletic entities. He said he would prefer to think of the team as a family.

The program began co-ed training in January 1981 and have continued to practice that way. The benefits to this style of training are plentiful, Hodgson said.

“We gain, I believe, a true sense of family,” he said. “The women and men generate tremendous enthusiasm and spirit, and this lifts each person, each team and our ‘family’ as a whole.”

The members of the ‘family’ agreed.

“I really enjoy practicing with the men’s team because, in a sense, we really are a family,” said women’s co-captain Kristi Cook. “We enjoy each others’ company both in and out of the water and it only adds to our team spirit.”

Waataja said that training together has an added bonus.

“First off, our women are very fast and they push the guys, at least me anyway, to swim very hard in practice,” Waataja said. “Also, our women have a lot of spirit that pumps us up for the meets.”

Team unity can be attributed to Hodgson, who provides each member of the team with inspiration and advice.

“He reminds me a lot of my dad and is always there for us no matter what,” Cook said. “He is interested in our lives outside of swimming and really strives to get to know us as individuals.”

Waataja agreed.

“Tom is awesome for two reasons,” he said. “First, he is one of the most caring coaches I have ever had. For example, every year he invites the whole swim team to his house for a Christmas party where he dresses up like Santa and we all exchange gifts with our pep pals. Secondly, he pushes us really hard in practice so we swim at our maximum potential.”

Hodgson is not just interested in getting the team to swim fast. He said he tries to show the team the importance of living well. The team collected 250 pounds of food last week, which they donated to the Merriam Park Community Services Food shelf.

“We want to have our teams repeat as Academic All-Americans, make leadership contributions to the university community and continue our tradition of generosity of spirit,” Hodgson said.

The Tommies had hoped that plans for a new pool would be underway this semester, but the project was never approved. Waataja said competing and recruiting are more difficult when the facilities are older. But as the season begins, Waataja said he has his sights set on the other MIAC teams.

“I believe that the team goal should be to pick the teams that we will be able to compete with and go after them,” Waataja said. “St. Olaf and Gustavus are way out of our league, but it will be very fun to compete with Macalester, St. Mary’s and maybe even Carleton.”

Cook agreed that the team has the potential to compete with some of the conference’s top teams.

“I do think that we will surprise some people this year, both with our new talent and our depth,” she said.