In Eppley, one final swim?

As Megan Lafferty swam toward the center of the pool at Eppley Recreation Center Natatorium after her Terrapins swimming and diving teams dispatched Georgetown on Saturday, her mind was only in one place.

She wasn't thinking about the day in November when she and her teammates learned the program they had grown to call their own was on the verge of being cut. And she wasn't thinking about the $11.6 million that still needs to be raised to save her sport.

She thought only of the seniors as she and her teammates sang the university's fight song in front of their parents, coaches, friends and others who had come out to support them.

"I feel confident that we're going to have our team next year, and that's a great way to think about it, and it should be the only way we really think about it," Lafferty said. "So the last fight song, that was for the seniors. Obviously, we always do it for the team, but that one was for the seniors."

In the end, the fact that the Terps men and women beat the Hoyas by scores of 228-47 and 227-54, respectively, won't matter much if the program and its supporters can't raise the money required to save it from being cut. Still, coach Sean Schimmel plans to reside in College Park next year and beyond.

"The passion that they have, their organization — they're just such a sharp group of people, and when you put that passion together, results are going to happen," Schimmel said. "We're in a good spot for the time we've had over 12 weeks and what we've accomplished, and that's what makes me optimistic of moving forward into 2012-2013 with this team."

Much has changed since the teams found out about the university's plans to eliminate eight varsity athletic teams, and Schimmel highlighted the teams' ability to compartmentalize and focus on the task at hand.

"We have our routine down at this point of the season so that we can keep our emotions in check no matter what comes at us," Schimmel said. "Our team has done a really good job with that all year. Just look at how they've dealt with this adversity, and we work really hard at keeping those things in check and they did that today as well."

Schimmel isn't the only one to take note. John Tynan, a former swimmer who graduated in 1991 and whose son Matthew is a freshman on the team, has been impressed with the teams' ability to handle the recent challenges.

"I think it's just a credit to what great student-athletes they are," Tynan said. "Just the fact they can hold down GPAs above 3.0, above 3.5, and be the best athletes in their sport and handle this pressure has been amazing because they have not fallen off in terms of grades or swimming in the pool … I don't know if I could have handled it as professionally and as maturely as they have."

Tynan also heads "Save University of Maryland Swimming and Diving," an initiative aimed at helping the teams survive the budget cuts. When he found out the news in November, he said he happened to be at a swim meet with a number of other parents and started the organization right then. Ninety-six hours in, the parents and alumni already had a strategy.

Saving the program is still a tough task, with the deadline less than five months away. Yet the teams remain confident they will be competing in varsity meets here next winter.

During the teams' rendition of the fight song, Lafferty focused on the seniors. But Tynan, as an alumnus and a parent, had his thoughts elsewhere.

Two other parents, Tynan recalled, had told him, "‘Hey, four years from now, you're going to be standing here as a senior parent and this is going to be for you. It's going to be your kid. That's what we're focused on. Four years from now, they will still be in the pool doing that cheer."

dgallen@umdbk.com