With two weeks until the Horizon League Championships, Oakland divers Stirling Fordham, Joe Smith and Adam Polosky are aiming for the top.

Oakland will be seeing their names for a while; Fordham is a sophomore and Smith and Polosky are freshmen. An underclassmen team brings its perks.

“When you have new kids coming in they are always really excited when they first start,” diving coach Larry Albright said. “They are all excited together and kind of feed off each other that way.”

But while the chain reaction of enthusiasm starts off the season, the divers must maintain their excitement for the championship meet.

“As long as I do my best I will not care where I end up, but I definitely want to win,” Fordham said.

For Smith, heading into collegiate swim and dive meant learning something new.

“I did not know three meter coming in and figured it out in a week,” he said.  “It is going really well. Overall in the season I have learned some big dives on one meter and have made a lot of improvements.”

For the next two weeks, they’ll unwind, then refresh and reinforce their skills. Albright will focus on volume and precision, making sure the team stays in shape physically and mentally for the championships. He knows the importance of consistency and confidence, and makes sure to introduce it from day one.

“They start to have confidence because they know where they are,” Albright said.  “They feel the dive more and see it better.”

“It just seems like such an exciting tradition that we have,” Polosky said. “Especially in the beginning of the year seeing all of the past season members getting their rings.”

There’s no guarantee.

“They are not saying that we are going to win for sure,” Polosky said.

But in collegiate swimming and diving, Oakland has become synonymous with winning.

The men’s diving team will be hitting the board for the three-meter on Wednesday, Feb. 24 and the one-meter on Friday, Feb. 26 in the Oakland Aquatic Center.  The prelims are at 10 a.m. and the finals are at 5:30 p.m.