PITTSBURGH, PA - Today the Chatham men's and women's swim and dive team head to Latrobe, PA for their season opening meet. 

The Cougars have been preparing for the season, and are ready for their fresh start.

With the addition of new head Coach Morgan Soulia, she says, "I am most excited about growing the Chatham program and creating a culture of hardworking and passion!"

The Cougars have set the expectation level already for their season, looking for improvement from day to day. "Our biggest goal is to rise in the conference ranks; individually and as a team. We're looking to have fun and work hard; staying loose and having fun while working towards our goals is crucial to success in the pool," said Soulia. 

What the players have been preparing for isn't anything new though. The team has had success both, both as a team and individually. Those key players arr back and ready to do mroe than ever for the team this year. Soulia mentions how the team is looking to continue that level of success this year, "Looking back on last season we have some returners who broke school records: Hannah Uhrinek, Caleb Trainum, Max Rollins, Calum Hockman, and the entire Men's 200 Free Relay (Hockman, Rollins, Trainum, and Ethan Hopkins). It would be great to see everyone break their own records again, and I'd love to see what other records we can close in on. I've been really leaning on those guys in helping me with the transition and keeping the team even keeled while we get to know each other!" 

Soulia talks about the challenges their team will face while dealing with this long schedule ahead. "Our biggest challenge is not being able to practice in out poll the next six weeks and honestly we're just doing the best we can. Everyone is still swimming each day and we have a weird schedule but everyone is thankful we have the opportunity to continue training!"

The Cougars hit the road today, October 24th, and will travel to Latrobe, PA for their first meet which will take place at 6 PM.