Noah Fries | sports editor

Collegiate swimming and diving is a unique sport in the sense that there are a ton of individual accolades, but each individual’s performance adds up to the team score. This added nuance adds an uncommon emphasis on the individual doing the best they can in order to help the team thrive.

As a result of this, swimming and diving teams must be united in a one-of-a-kind way, as the passion and camaraderie of a team is crucial to overall success.

There may be no better way to display this team bonding than an intrasquad scrimmage, as the Duquesne swimming and diving 2026-27 campaign officially kicked off with the Red and Blue Meet Sep. 19.

The Duquesne swimming and diving team has been one of the most prolific programs on campus over the last several years, winning A10 championships in 2018 and 2019 while finishing top four in the conference in each of the last 12 years.

The Red and Blue meet splits the 23 swimmers into red and blue squads, and they compete in each event against each other. The five divers were split onto the teams as well, cheering on their respective squads.

The energy in Towers Pool could be felt from the very beginning, as the Red and Blue squads came out of the locker room with body paint, wigs and choreographed dances and chants to hype up themselves and the crowd alike.

Both teams would then compete in a number of the events seen at a meet, with the coaching staff getting a first look at each swimmer’s times in preparation for the marathon season ahead.

The blue squad would end up victorious at the end of the meet, but both teams came together for a dance circle that displayed how close knit the team already was so early in the year.

“Even though we separated into blue and red, everyone was still cheering for each other,” junior Kaitlyn Connors said. “I think it shows how united we all are, even though we can still compete.”

Head Coach David Sheets was extremely pleased with how well the event went for his team.

“We capped off our leadership retreat weekend with this Red and Blue Meet,” Sheets said. “Hopefully, it kind of takes everything that we talked about over the last two days — about the way we want to build our program and the way we want to continue our culture — and it carries it into the Blue and Red Meet.

“The kids can have fun and enjoy everything, and then understand that the work really has to start.”

Sheets is entering his 26th season at the helm of the program and has turned the team into a powerhouse throughout the course of his tenure. He emphasized the importance of the recruiting process when it comes to continuing the culture and tradition of the program.

“Every team is always going to be different,” Sheets said. “The core values won’t change, but the personality of the team changes. As long as we can change in a positive, then I think that’s going to keep our program moving in the direction that we want it to go.”

That recruiting process brought in 10 freshmen this offseason — two of which are Sheets’ daughters, Lainey and Libby.

“I think that we’re still trying to work through the coach and dad aspect,” Sheets said. “Having them in the program is fantastic. I get to be with them every day. I get to watch them mature and grow as people and as swimmers. They’re fully invested, but it’s a learning curve for the three of us.”

Sheets is the 14th-longest tenured head coach at a Division I women’s swimming and diving program. He led the men’s program at Duquesne for seven seasons (2004-10) until the program was disbanded.

When looking at his current team stacked up against the rest that he’s seen throughout his career, Sheets noted how the leaders have left an impact already and will continue to do so throughout the campaign.

“We have a team that just likes to have fun,” Sheets said. “They love to support each other and they want each other to have success. There will be bumps along the way. We’ve got a great leadership group. I think that, right now, we’re in a really good place.

“We just have to continue to communicate with each other, make sure that when issues arise we handle them in an adult way. That’s going to help them for the rest of their lives.”

Noah Fries can be reached at friesn@duq.edu