NORTON, MA- After depth and youth were key elements of the Wheaton College women's swimming & diving team's rise to third at last year's New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Championship, the men look to take a page from that book by fielding the largest roster in program history this winter, while the women aim to maintain their previously unreached level of success.

"We have a good number of new men, and there will be opportunities for them to step into pretty important roles right away," said sixth-year head coach Jean-Paul Gowdy, who brought in 11 freshmen to inflate the roster size to 18 members. "It's nice to have a bunch of men, because then there's nothing guaranteed, so they'll be competing for those roles, and that usually brings out the best in people."

Only one upperclassman, junior John Ahern (Boxboro, MA/Acton-Boxboro Regional), dots the roster, as six sophomores fill the remaining positions. Despite finishing the 2007-08 campaign with just nine competitors, Wheaton was still able to take fifth at the NEWMAC Championship and post a 7-10 mark in dual meets.

On the women's side, 17 athletes return from a squad that was within 16 points of first place late into the final day at last year's league meet before taking third, the best showing in program history.

"It was a great meet," said Gowdy, whose women went 15-4 during dual action, setting a school record for wins. "What went right at NEWMACs was our depth proved important, and we swam exceptionally well. And that's not just for the women who were in the top four or five in their events, but for those who were coming into the meet ranked 25th in their events but finished 13th and scored us some points. And then the women who ranked 14th in their events finished seventh and scored us more points than they should have."

Among Wheaton's 22 competitors this season, the five-athlete diving corps is the largest the program has had during Gowdy's tenure. Gowdy credits third-year diving coach Katy Shoemaker with the influx of talent, while the remainder of the coaching staff is comprised of second-year assistant Carl Cederquist and first-year assistants Jim Martin, Mary Ellen McLaughlin and Jen Peck.

"We have three new assistant coaches, and that's something I'm pretty excited about," said Gowdy. "Essentially, the more attention we can get our athletes, the better off we'll be. It certainly is going to aid the program to have all this help."

Wheaton's men will need to compensate for the loss of two graduates who have their names on 13 school records, as Ahern and the Class of 2011 look to employ their veteran experience. Sophomores Corey Best (Brentwood, TN/Ravenwood) and Sam Dean-Lee (Rocky Hill, CT/Xavier) will serve as co-captains for the freshman-laden squad, while Zach Fichman-Klein (North Attleboro, MA/North Attleboro), Eddie Gillie (Haverhill, MA/Saint John's Prep), Jonathan Gold (West Harrison, NY/Fordham Prep) and Ben Sabol (Saint Petersburg, FL/Shorecrest Prep) round out the sophomore class. Gold, who swam last year but also dove in high school, is the Lyons' lone diver.

Devon Best (Brentwood, TN/Ravenwood), Corey's younger brother, is joined in the freshman class by twins Spencer Deans (Redding, CT/Joel Barlow) and Trevor Deans (Redding, CT/Joel Barlow). Cole Larson-Whittaker (Penobscot, ME/George Stevens Academy) and Andrew Oliveri (Glastonbury, CT/Glastonbury) are the remaining New Englanders in the first-year bunch, as Dylan Caldwell (Chapel Hill, NC/Emerson Waldorf School), Alex Hosey (Danville, PA/Wyoming Seminary), Achilleas Svolos (Ekali, Greece/HAEF Psychico College), Charles Western (Syracuse, NY/Nottingham), Christian Woods (Claremont, CA/Webb School of California) and Rory Wurfbain (Seal Beach, CA/Los Alamitos) were drawn from various corners of the United States and beyond.

"There will be bumps in the road since we're a young team," said Gowdy. "It's not always going to be easy. I've learned what I'm looking for in an athlete a little bit more when I recruit, and it's not just swimming ability, it's the personality side that goes along with that, and I think we have a group of guys that fit in well with the program and will contribute all four years."

Gowdy is hopeful that his men's team will benefit from its deeper ranks. "Having 18 men will be good in the sense that we'll have a chance to be more competitive at NEWMACs," said the coach. "You don't do well at championships with a team of five really good swimmers; you need depth. We'll also be more competitive at dual meets, which should build confidence for our guys going into the end of the year."

While 10 of the male athletes hail from outside the region, 19 of Wheaton's women are from New England, with each of the six states represented. Among them, junior Iris Meehan (Bar Harbor, ME/Mount Desert Island) and sophomores Dania Piscetta (Belmont, NH/Belmont) and Nicole Zais (Sudbury, MA/Lincoln-Sudbury Regional) each produced all-conference finishes last season and have their names on a total of 10 school marks. The Lyons also need to overcome the graduation of the first woman in program history to qualify for an NCAA meet.

Lone seniors Caitlin Glover (Durham, NH/Berwick Academy) and Kelly Grant (South Salem, NY/John Jay) are first-time captains, while Stephanie Conelias (Cheshire, CT/Cheshire), Sarah Houlihan (West Springfield, MA/West Springfield), Aurelie Marcotte (Hampden, MA/Minnechaug Regional), Maggie Samen (Lexington, MA/Lexington) and Chelsea Stephenson (Cape Elizabeth, ME/Cape Elizabeth) join Meehan in Wheaton's junior class.

In addition to Piscetta and Zais, the Class of 2011 is comprised of Emma Chaiken (Bangor, ME/Bangor), Kathleen Dwyer (Barrington, RI/Barrington), Samantha Farrell (Reading, MA/Reading Memorial), Sara Hollar (La Crescenta, CA/Flintridge Prep), Stephany Perkins (Monmouth, ME/Monmouth Academy), Leah Rohner (Portland, ME/Deering) and Alisha Wilson (Cumberland, ME/Greely).

Freshmen Catherine Army (Pomfret, CT/Pomfret), Alexandra Wilson (Suffield, CT/Suffield) and Julia Wright (Pomfret, VT/Northfield Mount Hermon School) join Chaiken and Samen in the diving corps, while Taryn Brosnan (Westford, MA/Academy of Notre Dame) and Sarah Miller (Madison, NJ/Madison) are in their initial seasons with the program as first-year students.

"At this point in the year, what we're focusing on is becoming better swimmers and divers, getting a nice training base, and figuring out what people need to do to improve upon their results from last year," said Gowdy, "so hopefully the athlete who went from 14th to seventh last year can now go from seventh to fourth or fifth."

After each team opens the campaign with 10 of its first 11 meets occurring in Balfour Natatorium, the men will finish out the season by hosting their second NEWMAC Championship in three years, the prospect of which is appealing to Gowdy.

"It will be nice for our men to be at home and for our women to be around, because in a sense, we're one team, because we train together and compete together all year long," said Gowdy. "Also, we know the pool, and it certainly minimizes the chance to get thrown off of our routine."

Both squads raise the curtain on the season by entertaining Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) on Saturday in Norton, and the November 1 Charlie Batterman Relays and January 10 Wheaton Winter Invitational highlight the regular season home blotter. The Lyons' lone road trip prior to late January will be their competition in early December at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Invitational.

The women head back to MIT for the three-day NEWMAC Championship, which begins on February 20, before Wheaton hosts the men's meet the following weekend. Qualifiers for the national meet would head off to the University of Minnesota for the four-day NCAA Championship, which kicks off on March 18.