LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Last year both the men and women's swim and dive teams finished in the top 10 in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, and Head Coach Eddie Shepard plans on improving their standing even more this season.
 
"My goal is to improve from our finish at nationals," said Shepard. "I would like to see us move up a place or two, and I think our women have a shot to get into the top five."
 
In order to improve both squads Shepard has made alterations to their training regimen based off of his analysis of the team's performance in the pool last season. He has also added personnel to help improve the squad's depth and versatility.
 
Nine of the 29 swimmers on the 2013-14 roster are freshman, and five of those nine are male swimmers that Shepard noted would be key contributors toward advancing the team at nationals.
 
Chad LeJeune, Michael Severi, James Daughters and Darrin Smith are four additions to the roster that could make an immediate impact by filling in at some important positions by swimming breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle.
 
"Chad is going to be really strong a breaststroke for us. He comes in with some of his fastest times being quicker than our school records," said Shepard.
 
The women added four new first-year faces, among them are Victoria Turner and Jennifer Walker. Turner, a backstroke swimmer, is the younger sister of Bethany Turner, a former breaststroker for the Eagles. Shepard believes that Turner is almost guaranteed to swim a time that will qualify for the national meet.
 
Walker comes in and swims butterfly and will help add depth to the stroke anchored by standout junior Christine Tixier.
 
Tixier returns to lead the women's squad after picking up three All-American awards and one national championship a year ago. Angela Kirschner will be another standout as a sprint freestyler for the Eagles.
 
Brandon Hughes will anchor the men's side, the sophomore swims IM and broke Shepard's school record in the 200-IM last season.
 
"I have a great group of kids, they are always great," said Shepard. "Thy work hard in the classroom and in the pool and I think we will see some school records fall and do really well."
 
The team has four home meets this season (Nov. 2, Jan. 4, Jan. 11, Feb. 1), the first is at Lansing Pool and the last three at Splash Aquatic Center.
 
Shepard mentioned that most of the fall season is used to gear up for the big Winter Invitational Dec. 13-14. This is the meet Shepard believes most of his swimmers can nail down national meet qualifying times.
 
All three of the team's interterm meets will be crucial to establishing the team's place in the conference prior to the actual conference championship meets. Shepard pitted his teams against some of the nation's stiffest competition.
 
BU begins its season this Saturday at the Pacific Collegiate Swim and Dive Conference Pentathlon. For a full schedule click here, and for a full roster click here.