Men's Swimming | 1/24/2019 1:29:00 PM
BECKLEY, West Virginia -- Miranda Anderson is in her first season as WVU Tech's men's and women's head swimming coach, so Beckley is actually newer to her than it is to most of the swimmers themselves.
She's loving the experience so far. From the teams' relationship with the YMCA of Southern West Virginia to the layout of the campus, Anderson is more than pleased.
"It's been great," she said. "I think we are really fortunate with the Y giving us pool time and letting us have swim meets there. So we have been fortunate in that respect. The Y has worked with us and it has been an awesome relationship.
"The campus is nice. We have had a lot of recruits tour and absolutely love it, so that's definitely helping on the recruiting side to get the team numbers back up."
And, for the first time, local swim fans will have the chance to see their hometown teams this weekend.
WVU Tech will host meets Friday and Saturday, a first since the school relocated to Beckley last year. The Golden Bears will host Fairmont State and Columbia (S.C.) College Friday at 6:30 p.m., then Union College (Ky.) Saturday at 2 p.m.
"We are very pumped," said Anderson, who spent the last two seasons as the head coach at Iowa Lakes Community College. "The senior class didn't get a home meet last year, so to have two back-to-back is really exciting. We actually get to celebrate our seniors this year."
The seniors, who will be recognized Saturday, have already earned a special place in Anderson's heart.
"We have a lot of seniors swimming, so we're going to be sad to see them leave," she said. "Hoping they can make a great last impact. They are doing well. Some people are close to records. Paulo broke the 100 IM record at mid-season. We're kind of looking to take the conference for the men's side and see what we can do at nationals."
Fans who take in this weekend's meets will see some of the most talented swimmers in the Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC). All 13 swimmers on the roster have already qualified to compete in the NAIA National Championships next month in Columbus, Georgia.
The men's team, undefeated in five meets, was ranked fifth in the latest NAIA Coaches Top 10 released last Thursday. Paulo Ignacio, Jr. and Carolus Josefina have been among the team's top performers.
The women are also doing well, but are limited by the numbers game.
"But nearly all of them had their best times at mid-season," Anderson said. "So we're looking to make sure we go out with a bang, and see if they can get some records as well."
Three of the four are sisters — Ana Carolina Loureiro and twins Mariana Loureiro and Mariara Loureiro.
There is a distinct international flavor on both teams. The Loureiro sisters and Isabela Zandavalli are from Rio de Janeiro, and
A'ishah Hironimus is from Curacao.
Eight of the 11 men's swimmers are international students.
Anderson is excited for the area to have the chance to see both teams before the postseason. The AAC Tournament — which Tech won last season — is set for February 7-9 in Kingsport, Tenn.
"We hope to have younger swimmers out, just to even watch," she said. "Two high school teams, Shady Spring and Woodrow Wilson, also practice at the Y, so they know about our teams and we know about their teams.
"It's nice to see something kind of start to grow and people start to care about it. That's always good."
