Men's swimming ready to begin season

After six weeks of intense practice, the men's swimming team is preparing for their Intrasquad Scrimmage at 3 p.m. Friday at Counsilman Billingsley Aquatic Center, coach Kris Kirchner said.\nThe team will begin looking for replacements for two school record holders, Ken Ackermann and Henrik Wahlberg, a senior. Despite the losses, Kirchner said he thinks his team could be very good this season.\n"It will be tough, but we have the personnel and position to fill the void and to excel as well as get better as a team," Kirchner said. "Hopefully, each senior will have his best possible season. That is part of our team goal this year."\nLeading the seniors today will be Don Gold, the top returning sprinter. Gold earned All-Big Ten honors last year holding the team's top 50-, 100- and 200-meter freestyle times. \nAlongside Gold will be senior Joe Trent who returns as the team's top distance swimmer.\n"He is coming off of a great season and has had a good summer of training," Kirchner said. "He will really be tough this year."\nThe team still has some spots to fill, Kirchner said, including finding a 200-meter medley swimmer, as well as figuring out the team's relays.\n"The freestyle relays are wide open and are in the air as of now," Kirchner said. "We hope to have this all figured out by mid-semester."\nThe meet consists of all the races that make up a regular meet, minus the distance events. The team is split into two by captains who pick swimmers much like a pickup football game.\n"It's a short, hopefully exciting meet. You can expect four people in each race -- tops," Gold said. "There is a lot of excitement right now. There's been a lot of trash talking this week between the teams"