The SUNY Potsdam swimming & diving teams look to improve on their performance from a year ago at this week’s State University of New York Athletic Conference Swimming & Diving Championships at Erie Community College in Buffalo, N.Y.

The tournament, which begins Wednesday and runs through Saturday, represents the final chance for members of the men’s and women’s teams to set school records and qualify for the NCAA Division III Championships on March 23-26 at Knoxville, Tenn.

Last season, the men’s team finished sixth, while the women’s team placed ninth.

Bears swimmers are confident about a solid showing in 2011 after the men finished with a 7-1 record in dual meets, while the women posted a 6-2 mark, this season. Both teams finished second in the North Country Invitational on Nov. 19-20.

“We feel we’ve had a very good season,” sophomore Alexander Taylor said. “We’ve all trained very hard, and have been in it to win it. We’re hoping to improve on our performance last year. It’s crunch time.”

Junior Brittany Berrus, a multi-event swimmer from Lowville, N.Y., believes there is a difference in attitude from the 2009-10 season to this year’s campaign.

“With the success we’ve had this year, there is a more positive attitude,” Berrus said. “We can all get our best times and go for records. Our general attitude will help a lot in what is normally a stressful, nerve-wracking meet.”

The men’s team has experienced success despite a roster littered with freshmen and other first-year swimmers and divers. Taylor and junior Ryan Wentz (Pendleton, N.Y.), a captain and all-conference performer last season, have led the way thus far. Wentz will return this week after an injury held him out of training for much of the second semester.

The women’s team has a larger number of veterans, such as Berrus, senior Sarah Gutenmann (North Lawrence, N.Y.), junior Hollie Heimer (Chesapeake, Va.) and sophomore Liz Ringer (Queensbury, N.Y.), but has also relied on a number of first-year athletes to earn points.

“We’ve added a lot of depth (since last year), especially with our freshmen class,” Taylor said. “That should help us this week.”

Taylor, a Port Ewen, N.Y., native who earned SUNYAC Swimmer of the Week honors for his performance from Jan. 17-23, sees both the fun and the challenges associated with the largest meet of the season.

“The atmosphere pushes you to go harder,” Taylor said. “It’s a longer meet, so you really have to stay loose and stay on top of things … the close races really push you to do your best.”

Both Berrus and Taylor pointed out the close relationships among members of both teams. The teams have created bright pink SUNYAC t-shirts in hopes of adding fun and excitement to a long, stressful week.

“As a team, we like to have fun,” Berrus said. “We’ll do team cheers, team songs, dancing … just goofing around. We have a close-knit team.”

Added Taylor, “We have a good time together. We try to get our spirits up and loosen everyone up by smiling and clapping.”

Members of the swimming & diving program are hopeful their performances – not just their vibrant wardrobe – will stand out this week in Buffalo.

“We’re swimming faster at this point this year than we were at this point last year,” Berrus said,” and we’re looking forward to competing against the best in the conference. It’s not anything like what you see in the regular season. It’ll be fun.”