It’s 6 a.m., and the sun isn’t even up yet. While most students are sleeping, some are swimming an hour’s worth of laps at the Gabel Hall pool.

At 3 p.m. these same students dive back into the pool for three more hours of laps. Later in the evening they visit the weight room to increase their strength, and the cycle continues the next day. It has been said that practice makes perfect, and for the NIU men’s swim team the saying is almost true.

The Huskies hold a near perfect 10-1 record after three months of competition. While the NIU crew and its coach are pleased with the improvement from last season’s 7-3 slate, the Huskies have one major hurdle ahead—the Midwest Independent Championships held at Illinois-Chicago on March 2-4.

Although the path to UIC continues for another month, the road the Huskies have traveled so far has been one without major obstacles.

During the first half of the year, NIU not only made strides toward keeping a winning slate, but it also broke records and improved its overall performance from the year before.

At the Wheaton Invitational held Dec. 2-3, new school records were set in the 400-yard freestyle relay, the 200-yard butterfly and the 200-yard medley relay, including two freshman records in the 50-yard freestyle and the 100-yard freestyle.

The dual meet against Western Illinois on Jan. 21 just might be one of the Huskies’ best. While NIU lost to the Leathernecks by 30 points during the 1987-88 campaign, this season was a bit different with the Huskies coming out on top by 60 points.

The one disappointment so far for the Huskies is a road loss to a strong Notre Dame team two weeks ago. NIU also experienced a loss at the Illinois Illini Classic held this past weekend, but it did not affect the dual-meet standings.

“It’s not just one or two people who make the team,” said senior co-captain Dave Talbot. “I’ve seen a lot more hard work out of the swimmers this year (compared to past seasons).”

“We’ve got a good, solid nucleus,” coach Dave Clark said. “While we have experienced swimmers back from last season, we also have freshmen who have experience from (off-season) competition.”

The NIU squad has five more meets before the regional, and while the swimmers don’t want to overlook the rest of the regular season, the Huskies admit the championships are the ultimate.

“Our main goal is the regional meet,” co-captain Mike Godstead said. “We try and focus on that the entire time we practice. We are hoping this is our year to win.

“We’re not trying to be cocky, but it takes the top swims from each person. We are all pushing each other.”

“We have a shot at taking first,” Talbot said. “Actually, I would even be happy with second or third, but a lot of it is mental. If we can get it together as a team, then we have an excellent shot at winning it.”