Men’s swimming and diving at Oakland University has developed into one of the premier programs in Division I athletics throughout the past few decades.

Winners of 37 straight conference championships, the Golden Grizzlies will look to extend that number as they get ready to hit the water.

“Extending a streak of any kind is tough, but if our swimmers accepted the challenge from last spring to get just a little bit better, they will put themselves in good position for great things to happen,” head coach Pete Hovland said.

“If the freshmen make a concerted effort to integrate themselves into the culture of what it means to be a member of our program, then we will find ourselves with a chance to win another title.”

What will ultimately determine whether the team will continue their lengthy streak of conference championships is the work put in during the offseason.

“If the conference championship is important to them, they will have needed to do what it takes this past summer as well as over the next 175 days to earn that opportunity,” Hovland said.

The team will consist of many talented swimmers, both returning members and new faces, giving them a strong pool of depth.

Mitch Alters, Sterling Fordham, Hrafn Traustason, Alek Danielewski, Tuomas Kiviluoma and John Schihl will be the team leaders to begin the season.

“With the upgrade and improvement to our diving corps, this will be one of our more talented and deeper teams in recent memory,” Hovland said.

The team will be without star swimmer Jorden Merrilees, who is spending the year in Australia training for the 2016 Olympics. Should he choose to return, Merrilees will have a spot on the team, according to Oakland Assistant Athletic Director Scott MacDonald.

Last season was a very successful season for the Golden Grizzlies, posting several new team records along the way.

The 800 meter free relay team set a new program record, as well as a Horizon League record, with a time of 6:29:64. The 200 medleys relay team did the same with a time of 1:27:32.

The team had nine individual Horizon League Champions, as well as four more relay team championships.

Oakland aims to continue competing on a national level this year under the leadership of Hovland and the depth of a well-established program.