The UW Oshkosh men’s and women’s swimming teams began their season on Oct. 24 at the Wisconsin College Showcase in Brown Deer. The showcase featured programs from around the state including NCAA Division I schools UW-Green Bay and UW-Milwaukee. Although this event did not feature team scoring, the Titans managed to have swimmers earn top-20 finishes. For the men’s, sophomore Tyler Shircel placed 15th in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:24.30. He also placed 19th in the 100-yard breaststroke clocking in at 1:06.9. As for the women, senior Katie Challoner finished 6th in the 100-yard breaststroke with a speed of 1:09.5. Challoner also placed 9th in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:32.7. Challoner said she embraced this opportunity to prepare for the season. “It was important to put my best foot forward to start off the season,” Challoner said. “The meet we were at is easily one of the most competitive meets we will attend all year.” Christopher Culp, in his first year as head coach of both the men’s and women’s teams, introduced dry-land training. Senior Katie Kubisiak said she has nothing but good things to say about Culp. “Coach Culp has brought a whole new energy to the team that will really benefit us once the Conference Championship meet comes around,” Kubisiak said. “I’m anxiously waiting to see what the end product will be after all the new changes with our program and training regimen.” Culp has 17 years of coaching experience and has been trained under two Olympic coaches Sherm Chavoor and Mike Hastings. Freshman Ian Sewell said the track record Culp brings makes expectations for team success much higher. “I believe the team will be doing better than it ever has,” Sewell said. “A new coach with a great attitude towards the sport and the team really makes a difference in the overall team performance, bonding and self performance.” The Titans’ next meet will be at Carroll University on Saturday, Oct. 31 at 1 p.m.