Throughout the Show-Me Showcase on Friday, one thing was constant. During every race, members of Missouri’s swimming team would stand on benches and chant and cheer for their teammates. This not only showed the level of excitement for the new Southeastern Conference season, but showed the team was coming together as a unit, something that was a primary goal for the group going into the season. 

“Even though this is an individual sport, the team aspect is super important,” said Dominique Bouchard, a senior who won two events at the meet. “Even though you are in a lane by yourself, you know that you have 40 other teammates behind you.”

The team benefits from several of its athletes having participated in June’s Olympic trials, giving them experience at the highest level. 

“That meet is just on a whole different level,” said John Higgins, a sophomore who competed in the 200-meter backstroke at the trials. “It’s one of the fastest meets in the world.”

The race might be the fastest in the world, with some international Olympic finals being even slower than the American finals, Bouchard said. 

“There is absolutely no room for error at the trials,” said Eegan Groome, a sophomore who competed in the 400-meter freestyle at the trials. “You literally have to be on your best time, or faster than that, just to even make it in the finals.”

It is an experience the athletes and their coach said should help the entire team as it prepares to take the next step into the deep and prolific, yet unheralded world of SEC swimming. 

“It gives them a little more experience, a little more confidence,” coach Greg Rhodenbaugh said. 

Rhodenbaugh said he acknowledges the challenge the team faces entering the SEC, a conference he recognizes as “the strongest in the nation.”

“As a team, we need to be top six in (the SEC Championships),” Bouchard said. “That is definitely a really good goal. As a women’s team, one of our goals is to get one person in every event at finals in SEC’s (Championships), which is a very lofty goal.”

Due to a lack of experience with the SEC, Rhodenbaugh said he didn’t set exact goals for his club but promised it would compete. He said the team’s main focus is the NCAA Championships, an event in which the men’s and women’s teams both broke into the top 20 for the first time last season. 

“We want to be better than we were last year,” Rhodenbaugh said. 

Though Missouri was victorious Friday against seven visiting programs, winning 10 of the 13 event titles, there is much work to be done, Rhodenbaugh said.

“We really focused on getting behind each other as a team, staying loud, being the best cheering team,” Rhodenbaugh said after the event. “I think we accomplished that. This first meet is always trying to figure out where we are.”