Whether you follow Instagram or go to meets, any observer can tell that the Hamline Swimming and Diving is more than just a team. After a couple of coaching changes, the team seems to be settling in around new head coach Alex Card.

Card brings to Hamline eight years of coaching experience as well as a four year college career of his own and a solid and applicable coaching philosophy. 

As noted by Oracle reporter Michael Kurtz in his Nov. 8 article, Card’s coaching style, “One team, one family”, is individualistic and has the education of the players in mind. This coaching method seems to be paying off, as of Feb. 2, the women’s swimming and diving team was awarded the Fall 2022-23 Scholar All-American Team distinction, as well as taking seventh place nationally on College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA)’s Top-10 Team GPA list with a collective GPA of 3.7.

The Hamline Women’s Swimming and Diving team is not only excelling in the classroom. Senior diver Courtney Broyles broke her own school record for the one meter dive at the recent Stevens Point Invitational, setting the record now at 465.0. 

Broyles has been making waves in the diving community since she began her career at Hamline. Four years later, she is leaving her name on the wall of records in the pool.

“I came in my freshman year and my coach Casey was just like, oh, you’re gonna be up there eventually,” Broyles said. “I was like, yeah sure, whatever. I didn’t really think anything of it until I was getting close … pretty cool to come full circle.”

Broyles is one of many members on the team challenging their own bests.

“We have seen so many time drops, season bests, lifetime bests … especially upperclassmen going faster than they have in previous years or getting back down to where we were pre-COVID,” senior swimmer Aubrey Chavarria said.

Chavarria credits Card for much of the team’s success, and attributes it to an attitude shift. 

“I feel like I say this every year, that the team just gets better, but this year especially,” Chavarria said. “We’ve had a lot of change over the last few years but with Alex coming in, he’s really pushed team environment, one team, one family and that’s showing.”

As much as others credit him for the positive start to the swim season, Card recognizes the strength of the team he was welcomed into in October, when his time at Hamline began.

“I really do honestly feel very lucky that I was able to take over a team that is as together as it is,” Card said.

The Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) championships begin this week, and the Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving teams will be competing from Feb. 15 through Feb. 18. The most up-to-date stats and streaming links can be found at hamlineathletics.com.

“The rest of the MIAC, I don’t think they doubt us but I don’t think they’re ready to see what’s going to happen,” Chavarria said. 

Broyles also looks forward to conference meets at the end of the season.

“Getting to dive with the whole conference is super fun, seeing everyone at the beginning of the year versus what they’re doing at the end is cool,” Broyles said. 

The MIAC conference is not the last series of competitions for the team, however. NCAA Division III Diving Regionals will be held in Chicago, and NCAA Division III Championships will be in Greensboro, North Carolina, keeping the team competing until mid-March.

For seniors Broyles and Chavarria, as well as the other seniors on the swim team, there can be comfort taken that even when they leave Hamline, they will have a family that remembers them.

“I find that in sport, we are connected in multiple facets, not just for the sport itself. We are connected in after school activities and in our jobs that we decide to go into, and that remains true not just in the four years, maybe five years that they are here but also when they become alumni as well,” Card said. “Family tends to move away, but you can stay in contact.”