Salisbury seeks vengeance
Salisbury seeks vengeance
This season, a D3 national champion, two D2 transfers, and a Top 500 recruit join a Salisbury program determined to prove the doubters wrong.
Obviously, we were in the bag for Salisbury all last season.1
We featured Salisbury as a team with enormous potential to help reverse a trend in Division 3 swimming—namely, the decrease in the number of teams participating in Nationals…and the number of swim/dive programs funded by Division III colleges.
Slights
And we were also highly critical of the treatment Salisbury received from the CSCAA, where they were mysteriously excluded from the CSCAA regional rankings for most of last season, and placed behind teams they beat - or would beat - in dual meets. The enigma of these slights only grew throughout the season as the Sea Gulls broke 65 program records (several of which were broken by multiple athletes), won 17 dual meets, and peaked at their conference championship earning 11 medals at the NJACs.
Yet, we recognized that in Division III, being seen as a serious program is synonymous with participating in Nationals. So, yeah, we were hoping they would qualify an athlete for Nationals sooner rather than later.2
Doubts
And, here, we harbored a quiet skepticism. For a program that does not send swimmers to Nationals, making that leap requires many things to go right—many of which are beyond the control of athletes and coaches.
While Salisbury was a top-tier dual-meet team and undoubtedly the most improved program in Division III swimming—a place where fast swimmers got faster, with an expanding recruiting area and a strong team culture, including great support from the campus community, athletes who appeared to be enjoying themselves, and a thoughtful and aggressive coaching staff—none of this guaranteed a trip to Nationals.
This uncertainty was a challenge to our preferred narrative.
#Vengeance
To be specific about the slights of last season: Salisbury (except for one month early in the season) was shut out of even the regional rankings of the CSCAA Division III poll.3
Salisbury is, clearly, not over it. The #vengeance IG tag on Salisbury swim posts might seem a little much, were it not so sincere. Or if they had less of a case for feeling aggrieved. But they are right. They were denied recognition they had earned.
This was a remarkable team last year. There were the 65 broken program records, about which Head Coach Nate Parsley is quick to say, "A program record isn't just about the person whose name is on the board but about the team that helped them get there." Which is true. And incomplete. The team had a great culture for a couple of years, each class buying into the culture and playing a role in the program’s development. But the difference last year was the widespread improvements across the roster.
There are some obvious standouts. On the men’s side, Brady Wolf, Dominic Kazzi, and Gabe Miksa excel in breaststroke events, while Matt Merke continues to shine in distance races and the 400 IM. Coach Parsley praised Christopher Knorr’s persistence, noting his yearly improvement, and Mike DeSimone’s raw competitiveness, calling him one of the best dual-meet swimmers he’s ever seen.
For the women, Lily Griffin (200 Fly) and Maddie Powell (200 Breast) are close to generating SRS points,4 with Olivia Polucha and Samantha Watson not far behind. However, this list is not only incomplete but also retrospective — because who knows who might emerge this year?
Pay-Off
Any recruit or transfer coming into Salisbury should recognize that they are joining a team determined to settle a score. So, about those incoming recruits and transfers…
NP: I think this recruiting cycle, I feel like…has been the byproduct of some of the harder work I’ve done throughout my career, much earlier, and it is starting to pay-off.
Salisbury Head Coach Nate Parsley began his coaching career at Arcadia University (2017-2020). During his final year, he recruited Sydney McCallie, a promising IM and breaststroke swimmer from Virginia. Though she chose another school, their relationship remained intact. Ms. McCallie, a Nationals championship finalist in 400 IM and member of Kenyon’s national championship team, is using her fifth year of eligibility to swim for Salisbury.
Liz Perry, one of D2 Frostburg’s top swimmers and a dual-sport athlete, faced Salisbury last season in a tri-meet where D3 Salisbury dominated their D2 opponent. Now, she’s using her fifth year to swim for Salisbury, bringing 50 and 100 Free times that would break school records. Ms. Perry’s versatility in the 100 Fly and 100 Back also makes her a strong addition to medley relays.
Joining her is Frostburg sophomore Rachel Rickabaugh5, whose 200 Free is now the fastest on the team, with her 100 Free just behind Ms. Perry’s.
‘he really kind of vibed with the vision’
On the Men’s side, Salisbury’s top recruit is a first-year named Mason Potts. A few years back, Mason Potts was a high school Sophomore in Pennsylvania. His mom clicked a link in an email about a swimming ‘recruit camp’ at Salisbury.6
NP: His mom signs him up. He's young. Nobody else has really contacted him yet. It's just like that transition time. And he came to a prospect camp and just really clicked, honestly, like from the first time he was on campus…he really kind of vibed with the vision and what we were trying to do here.
Here are the destinations of the top 10 recruits (in rank order) from Mr. Potts’ high school region.
Mason Potts’ best 100 Free in high school is 44.54. We won’t make you look it up. That’s 0.03 seconds off last year’s D3 Nationals invite time for Men’s 100 Free. As the leadoff on his high school team’s 200 Medley relay, his 50 Back was clocked at 22.12 (confirmed, not a timing error). That leadoff would have put him middle of the pack in the championship final of the 200 Medley Relay at 2024 Division III Nationals.
Breaking the System
As admirers of the program, we are aware that they seem to be walking some line between ‘underdog determination’ and ‘siege mentality.’
NP: We will continue our upward trajectory, but it comes down to breaking the system.
The Salisbury ‘us against the world’ mindset wasn’t manufactured; it grew naturally from their journey, from unknown to underrated. And the next leap does not depend on a popularity contest—Nationals invites are objective and transparent.7 If Salisbury’s stubborn defiance is part of what propelled them from obscurity to a Nationals contender in just a few seasons, why change now?
NP: We aren’t conventional…We are still the underdog. While we will keep fighting to earn more, we still have nothing to defend. It’s a great place to be. We get to stay on the attack…
Being aggressive isn’t anything new for Salisbury. But even one Sea Gull on deck in Greensboro would be historic, and there’s an outside chance they’ll send multiple athletes. It would be the culmination of years of hard work—and for all the slights of the recent past, a particularly sweet form of vengeance.
On a Zoom last month, Salisbury Head Coach Nate Parsley mentioned that he - more than once - heard it suggested that he was the one ghost-writing the blog.
Success in any swim season often hinges on Nationals, and Salisbury was far from a sure bet to qualify anyone, especially since it had been more than a generation since a Salisbury athlete made it to the D3 Nationals.
Again, crowded out by teams they beat in dual meets, or would have beat according to the meet simulators.
Meaning, their best swims compare favorably with the fastest swims in the division. For more on SRS, go here.
Sister of Salisbury Junior Nicole Rickabaugh.
Under Coach Parsley, Salisbury runs recruit camps (a staple in NCAA softball and baseball).