No More Donuts on the Hill, Just an Entire Team at Work

As usual, the swimmers walked the paved incline down to the water, most of them a bit sheepishly. Even at 72 degrees, Horsetooth Reservoir doesn't exactly feel warm at 7 a.m. on a Sunday morning in September.

Colorado State's squad stepped into the water, splashing themselves to be somewhat acclimated to the temperature when they took their first full-body dive into the reservoir. What was different was there was no cheering squad perched on the rocks on the hill at the start. For years, that's where the CSU divers could be found, having just arrived on their own, boxes of donuts in hand, which they would eat as their swimming counterparts circled the 2.4-mile course.

Naturally, they wouldn't eat all the treats, saving some to pass out after Rams exited the water.

Different year. Different dive coach. Different approach.

"I do miss the donuts," senior diver Maggie Di Scipio admitted.

Instead of feasting, the group spread out towels on the beach as coach Seth O'Dea ran them through a series of drills. A bit of yoga, some explosive movement work, even some sprints and definitely core work. There's always going to be core work.

O'Dea has been on hand for around a month, and when he heard what the day was like in the past, it was funny to him in a comical way, but also in a team way. One side working, the other not.

"You know, new traditions. Because back when I was in college at Wilmington, they did a pier-to-pier swim, and the divers always did a beach workout during that," he said. "And I thought that was fun because we had to get up early and work out, too. It wasn't just different for the swimmers and divers"

Some swimmers were jealous of the divers, but they also knew the flip side was they would get a day off during the week when the divers didn't. Now they both will.

Others didn't even notice, Claire Wright among them. It's not like she was looking around while trying to avoid swallowing reservoir water and avoiding contact, because open-water swimming can be a full-contact sport at times.

On top of that, she's one of the select Rams who enjoy swimming in open water, while for some of her teammates, this was their first foray.

"I honestly really enjoy open water swimming, so I have a lot of fun and we get to have a day off during the rest of the week," Wright said. "So I think it's good that they're maybe getting out and doing something on the side of a mountain too, but I don't know. I'll leave that up to them to decide."

Di Scipio has. A senior, it didn't take her long to get over the disappointment of having a later alarm or being relegated to eating the pancakes provided instead of donuts.

Everything is just different. Not good, not bad, just changed. The diving group O'Dea has is two members deeper than it has been on recent rosters thanks to the influx of three freshmen. Practices are structured for more volume, which will increase as the group works in a few workouts at EPIC, a facility with twice the boards.

" I think it will be a good switch for us. I think it could have a lot of benefits for our team," Di Scipio said. "I think it's going to really help develop our underclassmen divers and to create a stronger imprint on the whole team. Having stronger divers is going to help us in conference and in dual meets so we can really pull our weight."

That comes with a coaching change as philosophies differ. It was a group O'Dea inherited, but a situation he likes, from the age gap to the numbers. This is still a time when he is acclimating to them, they to him.

Such as turning deep knee bends into donuts.

"I think having six athletes is a great environment. Having a mix between veterans and three freshmen has been really good for them to learn from the upperclassmen and have more people to be in it together," O'Dea said. "I think, you know, everyone's contributing to the environment, making sure to keep each other accountable. And it's been great so far.
Practice has been different for them. They adjusted to that pretty well, too."

Eight freshmen swimmers hit the water for the first time, while a handful of seniors did it for the final time, some of them thankful for the experience but definitely glad it is over. Bringing it all together, even a couple of dads hit the water, John Wright one of them, Adrian Hembree the other.

For Claire, that only made the final time all the more special.

"He's been training; he's been a runner all his life, and I'm the only swimmer really in my family," Claire said. "He's recently started swimming masters to train for this, so he's been really excited about it. I'm glad he got out there with Ashlyn's dad as well, so I think he had a really good time and wanted to challenge himself, and we all challenged ourselves today.

"I think it's sort of like a nice reminder of the season is here, we're ready, like we can conquer something different and do something fun together."

Sometimes doing the same thing with a bit of a twist is a refreshing change.

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