Courtesy of UMass Media Relations

The Massachusetts swimming and diving teams will honor their seniors at the last home meet of the season on Saturday against Fordham.

The dual meet for both the men’s and women’s teams will be held at 1 p.m. in the Joseph Rogers Pool in Boyden Gym.

Both squads have high hopes for this meet, but they have been concentrating on the Atlantic 10 Championships that will be held at the end of February. They are using this meet to fine-tune themselves for the A-10s, but women’s coach Bob Newcomb is still hoping they go out and swim the best they can to make sure they are ready for the championships.

“Fordham is probably one of the most improved teams in the conference,” men’s coach Russ Yarworth said.

The men will face tough competition from sophomore twins Justin and Ryan Coombs, who Yarworth tried to recruit to come to UMass.

“Our strength is in our balance from top to bottom,” Yarworth said.

The men are using this meet to establish the final roster for the A-10 Championship. There are four or five athletes fighting for the final two or three positions on the A-10 roster. The coaches will use this meet to evaluate them for the last couple of spots.

The men have been mentally preparing for the meet. The athletes battling for their spots have been getting focused for this meet and they are ready to compete.

The Minutewomen have been working toward the championships, as well. They only had two practices this week because they are letting their bodies recover from the work they have put in all season, which includes the double practices they had five days a week during January.

“[The Rams are] better than they were last year, but I think we are too,” Newcomb said. “It should be very difficult for us to win this meet, but that happened last year and we beat them in the A-10s.”

Newcomb is expecting the divers to do very well in Saturday’s meet.

As the Minutemen and Minutewomen use the meet to prepare for the A-10 Championships, they will also honor the seniors on their respective teams.

The senior class is known as a very vocal, boisterous group that led the team and always had a good time.

“These are the people that put in a lot of time into this program. They have been the leaders of the team,” Newcomb said.

The meet will start out with the seniors being honored by the coaches “to make them feel special,” according to Yarworth. “[I’ll] miss each one of them as individuals. After four years you really get to know them, the athlete is one thing, but you really miss the person.”

The seniors have mixed emotions about this being their last home meet. They are sad, but they have been doing this for so long that they are getting ready to move on. They have given everything that has been asked of them all season, according to Newcomb.

Melissa Turtinen can be reached at [email protected].