But it may take awhile yet to get back down from the heady days of last summer in London.
鈥淭hey are in various stages of fitness and this is not a shave and taper meet,鈥� said Dr. Peter Vizsolyi, in his 30th year of coaching the Vikes.
鈥淎nd some of the national team swimmers are getting back from the Grand Prix meet last weekend in Texas and have been travelling a lot. Also, Richard [Olympic 10K bronze-medallist Weinberger] is an open-water swimmer and not a pool specialist.鈥�
But the catch is that swimmers must compete in the conference championships in order to qualify for the CIS national championships Feb. 21-24 in Calgary. So everybody has to be on the blocks this weekend in Saanich.
鈥淚n university swimming now you get a disparate group, from varsity level to those who are international level, and the goal is to come together as a unit that has cohesion,鈥� said Vizsolyi.
The UVic men are ranked No. 7 in CIS and boast reliable veteran Nicholas Sinclair and have added prize rookies Page of Cortes Island, Eric Hedlin of San Diego and Victorians Will Brothers and Keegan Zanatta.
Page is already an Olympian, while Brothers, Zanatta and Hedlin have scored some encouraging international developmental results recently, including in Australia.
Joining Olympian Horner on the Vikes women鈥檚 side are fifth-year veteran Eleanora Dalling, fourth-year Allison Wood and touted rookie Victorian Rachael Newman.
Sessions are Friday at 5 p.m.; Saturday at 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.; and Sunday at 9 a.m. and 2 p.m.
