In the fast-paced world of college sports, some teams are more recognized than others.
But Spartans don’t just dominate the fields and basketball courts — they’re taking over pools, as well.
The MSU Women’s Club Water Polo team is currently ranked No. 5 in the nation as of the March 12 Collegiate Water Polo Association poll.
“We’re being ranked way higher than we ever have in the past,” packaging junior and President Hailey Sheats said. “We have a huge chance of doing really well this season.”
And the team is closer than close.
“Morale is really high, and we all do a good job of encouraging each other to be better,” interdisciplinary studies in social science senior Kimberly Bryan said. “We hang out all the time and that, with our coaching, we are unstoppable.”
This year’s shift in coaches has helped the team’s dynamic overall, education junior Andrea Gabrion said.
Current head coach and physiology junior Josh Jackson has been playing water polo for over 10 years, and was the assistant coach for the team last year.
In 2014 he was a part of the men’s water polo team and helped to bring home the Big Ten Championship title. They then competed in the national tournament and placed No. 10.
Joining Jackson this year as assistant coach is food industry management junior Eric Chisholm, who has also brought new life to the team.
“He played for the MSU swimming and diving team (last year) and now this is his first year coaching us and he’s done awesome,” Bryan said. “He has a lot of great advice and is really good about giving all players a lot of playing time.”
Last month, the Spartans went to Purdue to compete in their second CWPA meet of the season, where they won three out of four games.
That loss was the only one out of eight CWPA matches so far this season.
In April, the team will head to Ohio State to compete in the Big Ten division championship.
The No. 2 seed Spartans will kick off the weekend with their first match against No. 7 seed Purdue.
Last year, the Spartans did well in the championship and made it to the final match, where they lost 6-2 against the Michigan Wolverines.
But this year, they intend to win.
“We practice four days a week and we’ve been working on new plays to help us beat U of M,” Sheats said. “We have a lot of strong players and a really strong bench to cheer them on.”
