OKLAHOMA CITY (Nov. 19, 2021) – Oklahoma Christian's swimming teams soon will be able to use new starting blocks for their pool inside the Payne Athletic Center and the program now is looking to raise funds for its upcoming training camp, OC coach Josh Davis said Friday.

Through the generous support of donors, OC was able to raise $26,000 for six new, state-of-the-art starting blocks and lane lines for the pool in about one week. The six blocks currently being used in the pool are original to the facility and are about 40 years old.

The new starting blocks "will allow our student-athletes can continue to train at the highest level possible," Davis said. "We've gotten really fast and we want to take our team to the next level."

OC swimmers are making their mark at the highest levels in NCAA Division II. Freshman J.T. Amrein has the nation's fastest time in the 200-yard individual medley, the 100 breaststroke and 200 breaststroke and junior Brandon Heredia has Division II's best time in the 200 freestyle. OC's men are ranked No. 18 in the Division II coaches' poll and the women received votes in their poll.

The next big project for OC's swim teams will be their training camp, which will be held Dec. 30-Jan. 8 in Davis' hometown of San Antonio, where he developed the skills that made him a five-time Olympic medal winner.

After coming off a challenging first-semester schedule, Davis will reconvene his swimmers to begin gearing up for the push toward the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championships in Grand Junction, Colo., from Feb. 11-14 and – for the first time this season – the NCAA Division II Championships in Greensboro, N.C., from March 9-12.

"Training camp is a chance for the team to come together off-campus before the semester starts to finish up one last block of hard training before we fine tune for our conference meet," Davis said. "We will train at two of the nicest facilities in the country over the course of the week, one of which being the Josh Davis Natatorium."

OC's teams will practice twice a day – in the morning and the evening, to mimic their conference-meet schedule – and will have dinner catered to the pool each night from a different restaurant. The camp also will include team outings and team-building events.

Those wishing to make a tax-deductible donation can do so at give.oc.edu/swim2021. For more information, contact Davis at josh.davis@oc.edu or Luis Lopez in OC's Advancement Office at (405) 425-5098 or luis.lopez@oc.edu.