BG’s 2007 swim team is chock-full of young, talented swimmers who complement the team’s veterans very nicely.

Freshman Carrie Enright and sophomores Meg Richardson, Chelsea Lopus and Frankie Houck have all stepped up and played a big role for the Falcons this season.

“Even as a freshman, I still feel I have a pretty big role,” Enright said. “I’m excited for what this year has for me.”

Enright was an important piece to BG’s recent success at the Tom Stubbs Relays by helping all five of her relay teams to victory. However, she has her biggest goals set ahead in the season.

“I really want to do well at the [Mid-American Conference championships] by making the finals,” Enright said. “And a team goal is to make it to the NCAA championships.”

Richardson brings the same approach as Enright does, hoping for the team and herself to do well at the MAC championships.

“I would like to be in the top-8 in all my events at the [MAC championships], and I would like to win the 200-medley relay,” Richardson said.

Richardson is well on her way to achieving that goal by swimming at faster times than she did all last season but she knows she has to have help from her teammates and is excited about what the future can bring to BG swimming.

“I think everyone is doing well, but I think it’s awesome that we have so many younger girls that are swimming fast because that builds the future for our team,” Richardson said.

At the Stubbs Relays, Richardson also helped five relays to win and is happy she can be on relays with Lopus and Houck who both contributed to four relay wins at the Stubbs meet.

The only other swimmers to be a part of three or more relay winners were juniors Alisha Yee with five and Sami Jordan with three.

Coach Keri Buff is excited about her current team’s talent and is hoping to win a MAC championship within the next couple of years

“One of the things about our freshman class is that they come in and they’re fast, but they also have a lot to learn,” Buff said. “I feel lucky to be able to work with them.

“New people that come out and make your team better is what you look for as a coach,” she said.

But it’s more than coaching and hard work that makes a swimming team perform. Buff said a lot of success is helped by her veteran swimmer’s leadership, staff, strength coaches and academics coaches.

“We have one of the best staffs in the conference,” Buff said. “We want to see people who come here, work hard and love swimming.”

And this year’s recruitment process looks to bringing in that type of swimmers. Called “awesome” by Buff, this year’s recruiting class includes the first senior national swimmer to ever commit to BG.

The Falcons will be losing seven seniors at the end of the season, and Buff said that this kind of replacement, while not always easy, is essential to the continuing success of the program.

“The goal every year recruiting-wise is to replace the people that you are losing with people that are a little bit faster than them, which is sometimes hard to do,” Buff said.