Often times the teams that have the most success during the winter sports season are those that stay in the best condition over the holidays.

NIU men’s swimming coach Dave Clark can attest to that.

So when Clark takes his swimmers to Florida for four days of competition this month, he’ll have conditioning on his mind. The Huskies are scheduled to participate in the Ed Kennedy Memorial Swim Meet in Fort Lauderdale Dec. 28 and 31 and Jan. 3, and the Gault Ocean Mile-Swim Dec. 30.

“These two meets should give us some real good training before we come back and get into the regular season,” Clark said. “They should at least break the monotony of our normal training pattern.”

The normal training pattern remains the Huskies’ schedule for the rest of the week. Next week, during finals, the swimmers will have only light workouts. After a week off at home, the Huskies will head South.

“I’m hoping that the guys will work out that week that they’re home. We’re going to be very busy after that,” Clark said.

After returning from Florida, the swimmers will prepare for a pair of dual meets with Notre Dame Jan. 15 and Wisconsin Jan. 16.

Although Clark said he is especially looking forward to the Notre Dame meet, he anticipates some good competition at the Kennedy invitational. Last year, among nine Division I teams, the Huskies placed second overall.

Perennial top 20 power West Virginia placed first while Louisiana State, which finished eighth in the NCAA meet, placed third. If that is not enough, Clark thinks the meet will be even tougher this year.

“They’re holding the meet five days earlier than usual this year so I expect there will be more teams and better competition there,” he said.

In comparison, the one-day Gault event is a true invitational in that schools of all sizes as well as teams from Canada and abroad will be there. Clark expects this event to be challenging also.

“Miami (Florida) is always there and they won an NCAA title a couple of years ago,” Clark said. “And Florida State, who’s always in the top 20 to 25, and the always tough Swiss Olympic Team are usually there too.”

Regardless of the outcome, the two meets, Clark said, should get the Huskies ready for the “always interesting” Notre Dame contest.

“We should be coming back from Florida in as good as shape as we’ve ever been in.”