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ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 25, ISSUE 2 127 f RAISING THE BAR Senior swimmers expect more this season BY TRAVIS BAUGH TBaugh@Purdue.edu P urdue women's swimming and diving has experienced sustained success in John Klinge's seven seasons at the helm of the program, finishing in the Top 25 at the NCAA Championships five times in the last six years. But senior Rhiannon Sheets said sim- ply finishing in the Top 25 isn't enough anymore. "This year, we're trying to set that standard a little bit higher," Sheets said. "I think we have one of the best groups of girls we've had since I've been here. It's real- ly exciting and we have some big goals for the year." The returning Boilermakers accomplishments cer- tainly give Sheets justified reason for optimism. Purdue brings back seven of 10 NCAA qualifiers in Sheets (200 free and 200 fly), Francesca Marr (100 and 200 breaststroke), Grace Hernandez (400 free relay), Kylie Vogel (400 free relay) Allie Davis (800 free relay) and Nika Karlina Petric (800 free relay). Alex Todd, the school-record holder in the 100 butter- fly, returns, as well as Meagan Lim and Hannah Manger, who hold program freshman records in the 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke, respectively. The Boilermakers also welcome back three-time NCAA qualifer Emily Fogle, who hadn't competed since November of 2012 due to injury. "I think there's a lot of pieces in place," Klinge said. "The leadership on the team is excellent. The attitude couldn't be better. Everyone involved in our program thinks this could be a special year." Sheets said the Boilermakers biggest goal is to break through the middle of the conference this season after finishing sixth, fifth, and seventh, respectively, in the last three Big Ten Championships. The seniors held a team meeting in August to talk about just that and keep it at the forefront of everyone's mind. "We have to talk about our goal throughout the year as opposed to getting everyone excited about doing re- ally well a couple weeks before the meet," Sheets said. "It's definitely one of the toughest conferences with a lot of fast teams." The task gets harder after the graduation of Carley Mercer, who became the first swimmer in program his- tory to win Big Ten Swimmer of the Week honors three times and is the lone NCAA-qualifying swimmer from last season not returning for the Boilermakers. The Boilermakers will turn to Vogel and Manger to replace Mercer's production in the 50 and 100 free as well as several freshmen, including Julianne Heyde, Abby Jagdfeld and Annie Spalding. The trio is part of a 12-member freshman class Klinge said he will rely on. "We'll have to count on some freshmen to do some things, and that's tough in the Big Tens and NCAA Championships," Klinge said. "That's probably the one thing we have to make sure we get; our freshmen go- ing in the right direction. We're going to count on them pretty heavily." Purdue Rhiannon Sheets wants to build off a strong junior year which saw her make fhe NCAA Championships in the 200 freestyle and 200 fly.