Chicago, Ill. - The wait is over for the Illinois Tech swimming and diving team. Always a late-starting sport during the fall season, the Scarlet Hawks will finally kick off their 2024-25 regular season on Saturday afternoon when they host the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater at Ekco Pool at 1:00 PM.

The Scarlet Hawks are looking to build off of their first season under the direction of Head Coach Kate Chronic. As Chronic prepares to start her second season at the helm, she is excited about her team heading into the season-opener.

"The team this year is off to a strong start," said Chronic. "We've had four weeks of solid training and everyone looks to be ready to race this weekend. We added 13 new athletes to the team this year. With those additional athletes, we've got more depth in some events where we were lacking last year. Myself and the coaching staff are excited to see what the team can do this weekend." 

Of the 13 new athletes added to the team this year, 10 were added on the men's side and 3 on the women's side. The men's team returns 14 athletes, while the women's team returns 8 athletes.

There was also change on the coaching staff, as long-time assistant coach and former interim head coach Billy Bafia departed after last season, with Ben Pearthree joining the staff as an assistant coach and recruiter. Chronic's staff also returns an experienced crew of assistant coaches in Julian Escasa, Mac Robertson, Dar Novak(Diving), Bailey Yu, Dee Darling-Mills(Diving) and Seth Wissenbach.

With pre-season practices and intra-squad meets in the rear-view mirror, Chronic likes where the team is at heading into their opening meet.

"For the season, both the men's and women's teams have set some lofty goals for themselves," Chronic said. "It's exciting to see them settle down so quickly this early. Their focus and intensity in practices has made for some interesting and challenging workouts. It promises to be an exciting and fast season."

For the 2024-25 season, the Scarlet Hawks will enjoy a better balance between home and road competition. Last year, the Scarlet Hawks held two home meets while traveling to six road meets. This season, the Hawks will host four meets at Ekco Pool while traveling for five other meets.

The season opening meet can be seen in-person at Ekco Pool at 1:00 PM on Saturday, and can also be watched via live stream.