[caption id="attachment_16349" align="alignnone" width="838"]
Kauth has cemented his place as not merely a top freshman, but a top swimmer in the conference with Big East honor roll selection. Photo via SHU Athletics.[/caption]
So far this season, the men’s swimming and diving team has found a bevy of successes, following through on their lofty preseason expectations with an 8-1 record. Individuals on the team continue to rack up accolades, most notably freshman Tyler Kauth, who was just named Big East Swimmer of the Week for the week of Tuesday, Nov. 8.
Over the weekend, the freshman backstroker won the 100 back and 200 back that helped the Pirates capture two key wins over conference rivals Georgetown and Villanova. In addition, Kauth swam the first leg in both the 200 and 400 medley relay, both of which were won by the Pirates.
Kauth was named Big East Swimmer of the Week on Tuesday, but for him, he had his focus placed elsewhere.
“It’s a nice accomplishment, but it’s not something I really keep in the front of my mind,” Kauth said. “My goal is to make the team better and improve the team. Individual goals don’t really phase me or excite me right now.”
Kauth has come into the program this season and found instant success, something that coach Ron Farina, along with his teammates, are pleased with.
“I think one of his teammates said it best at the West Virginia meet…He just swims with a lot of heart. He really gets up for relays, gets up for the team aspect of it and he allows that to push him forward,” Farina said. “He is arguably one of our hardest workers, has a great attitude and has just really bought into what we’re doing and our goal of winning a Big East Championship.”
Kauth is a local New Jersey student from Wall, who attended Old Bridge High School. He came into this program with an evident comfort level, not just from living in the area, but also from having experience swimming with his fellow teammates in the past. Kauth was a member of the Red Bank YMCA swim team, along with teammates Matt Zebrowski and Chris Tucker.
“There was a comfort level for him when he got here,” Farina said.” “He just blends in really well with the team and I think he’s really enjoying the college experience and the college aspect of swimming right now.”
The level of comfort that Kauth had coming to Seton Hall can be seen through the proximity to home and prior experience with his teammates. All that can only account for so much, though the practices and meets are where there need to be results, and Kauth knows this.
“Every day we race in practice, every day we race in meets. Ron said it best when he said that a lot of the Big East comptition are the people on the bus right now,” Kauth said prior to boarding a bus to Fairfax, VA for the Patriot Invitational against George Mason from Nov. 17 to Nov. 19.
Kauth talked about how success for this team comes from motivating one another, reinforcing his statement on how the team comes first and individuals come second.
“It’s cool to win those awards, but I think we all just fire each other up when that happens. I know me and my roommate, Josh (Tosoni), we’ve both won Big East Swimmer of the Week awards, and we have a little competition going to see who can win the most by the end of the year,” Kauth said. “It’s nice to win them, but when you have people like that pushing you, that’s how we get our team to be faster.”
This men’s swimming and diving team has the key to success: unselfish individuals.
Matt Ambrose is a journalism major from Exeter, N.H. He can be reached by email at matthew.ambrose1@student.shu.edu and can be found on Twitter @mambrose97.
Comments
