LOCK HAVEN, Pa. - The Lock Haven University swim team is heading into their fresh season looking for big things in the pool in 2007-08.

Last year the Lady Eagles were 3-7 overall and 2-4 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC). LHU finished ninth at the PSAC championships and second among women’s only programs.

The Haven swim team has not only gotten it done in the pool, as the last seven seasons the Lady Eagles have earned College Swimming Coaches Association of American (CSCAA) All-American team honors for their impressive overall grade point average.

Lock Haven head coach Andy Waeger (Fairmont State College, ’02) enters his third season looking to continue to build upon the Haven’s recent successes.

This year’s edition of the Lady Eagle swim team features only one senior among two juniors, four sophomores and six freshmen.

According to Waeger, saying the team is young would be an obvious understatement, but it’s certainly not a negative point in any right. LHU returns two PSAC championship individual qualifiers from a year ago and the youth on the team provides endless potential as they have talent up and down the lineup.

The Lady Eagles lost eight swimmers from a year ago including five individual qualifiers.

“This team is young, but they bring a lot of energy and excitement to the pool everyday,” Waeger said. “I have the same goal every season and that is to have each person on the team swim faster than they have swum before.”

Waeger feels that if the women can do that, then everything else will take care of itself including a strong overall season, a good conference performance and hopefully a trip to Columbia, Missouri for the NCAA Division II National Championships.

In each of the last two seasons a Lady Eagle has missed the NCAA championships by .06 and .05, so they are right on the doorstep of making some noise at the national level, which a huge positive for any program.

As always the Haven will hope to be one of, if not the top women’s only program at the PSAC championships.

The captain of this year’s squad is the team’s lone senior Kelly Grieneisen (Pittsburgh/Plum), who was more than earned the position according to Waeger.

Grieneisen will compete in the freestyle events and is one of the Haven’s two individual conference qualifiers returning from last season. She can swim at any distance, but will focus on the middle distance events. She brings an outstanding work ethic and practices extremely hard each day in hopes of making her last season one to remember.

According to Waeger she has really turned it on as of late and her early season progress shows just that as she is poised for big things this year.

The team’s two juniors are Stephanie Kudrick (Coudersport, Pa./Coudersport) and Shannon Samanka (DuBois, Pa./DuBois).

Kudrick is the team’s top breaststroke swimmer, but missed last season after transferring to Lock Haven. The 4.0 student is competitive and Waeger describes her as a perfectionist, who works hard to be successful.

Samanka has shown vast improvements since Waeger first year as head coach. She brings a lot of energy to the team and provides fun at practice everyday. Waeger calls her a team player and says she could step up and race any event. She will focus on the freestyle and individual medley.

Four sophomores return for the Lady Eagles including Becky Fountaine (Wantage, N.J./High Point), Ashley Lightcap (Pottstown, Pa./Pottstown), Amanda Palmer (Exton, Pa./Downingtown East) and Shannon Wilbur (Altoona, Pa./Altoona).

Fountaine will swim the freestyle events and could see an occasional race in the breaststroke. She has shown amazing improvement and will look to continue that this season. Waeger notes her incredible progress from the high school level to her first her of collegiate swimming to this year. He will look for her to score points in dual meets.

Lightcap was a PSAC qualifier last year in the relay events and will look to get back to the conference championships this year as an individual. She will swim middle-distance freestyle events and is one of the team’s top butterfly swimmers.

Waeger will look for her to do well and said after a transition season in her rookie year, he looks for her to breakout as a sophomore this year.

Palmer is the team’s second returning PSAC individual qualifier. She can swim any event, be competitive and do well according to Waeger. She will focus on the butterfly and individual medley events. She will benefit greatly from a year’s experience says Waeger, who thinks she will do quite well this season.

Wilbur will swim the freestyle and backstroke events. During her freshman year she smashed her lifetime bests and should build upon that successful rookie season. She is an outstanding student and tremendous team representative says Waeger.

The Lady Ealges have plenty of youth on their roster and the majority of it comes in the form of eight freshmen including Jamie Compton (Easton, Pa./Easton Area), Ashley Gardner (Smyrna, Del./Dover), Caroline Sweeney (Brielle, N.J./Manasquan), Amanda Terray (Coaldale, Pa./Panther Valley), Lindsey Walizer (Lock Haven, Pa./Lock Haven Christian) and Brittany Williams (North East, Pa./North East) all whom will look to make their mark.

Compton will compete in the breaststroke and sprint/middle-distance freestyle events. She has the potential to do very well according to Waeger.

Gardner is multi-talented and could do well in any event. Waeger calls her a technical sound swimmer and looks for her to score well in dual meets. She will focus on the backstroke and individual medley events.

Sweeney is a raw swimmer, who could qualify for the PSAC team as a rookie. She will focus on the sprint freestyle events and should do well in duals.

Terray will swim the backstroke and spring freestyle events. According to Waeger she has the potential to be LHU’s best swimmer in a long time as she will be looking to be an All-American in her first season with the Lady Eagles. Waeger feels that the key to her season will be keeping her healthy as she has all the tools to be one of the nation’s top swimmers.

Walizer is a senior academically, but joins the Haven for the first time. She is very athletic and will provide depth to the squad.

Williams will swim the freestyle and breaststroke events. She is hard working and will push for a spot in the conference meet.