Five weeks remain in the swimming season and for some, specifically seniors, this is the end of their swimming career.

“For some swimmers who have been doing this for 10 or 15 years, this is the end,” head coach Ray Padovan said. “Not to say that some of them may not continue to swim, but this is the end for most.”

The swimmers are not oblivious to the fact that the season is coming to an end, but they’re not allowing their emotions to get in the way.

“To be honest, I haven’t really thought about the end of the season,” said senior Megan Frawley. “I guess I’m kind of excited for swimming to be over, but sad, too. I’m looking forward to life after swimming, but I still think the team will do well. We all get along really well and we are very close.”

The Panthers will have a meet at Millikin at McIntosh Pool today at 5 p.m.

But just because some of the swimmers are looking forward to the end of their swimming season doesn’t mean they aren’t prepared for the last leg of the season.

“Our team is ready to go for the home-stretch,” Frawley said. “I think we’re ready for (the) conference (championships) to come.”

Frawley is not alone with being prepared for the end of the season.

“We all know it’s ending,” senior Bill Senese said. “I’m not going to be sad right now. I know I’ll miss it when it’s all over, but right now isn’t the time to be sad. I’m sure you’ll see a lot of sad faces on Feb. 17, after conference, though.”

Graduate assistant coach and former Eastern swimmer Kim Fischer knows exactly what the senior swimmers are going through.

“In a few weeks there is a senior meet and that’s when it will probably hit them,” Fischer said. “But you stay focused because you know that it’s the last meet.”

The Panthers are coming off a long winter break. With the exception of a meet in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., which was not mandatory or counted towards their record, they have not competed since the House of Champions meet on Dec. 2 in Indianapolis.

The Fort Lauderdale trip, however, did keep most of the swimmers in shape.

“Just about the entire team went, except maybe one or two people,” Senese said.

Senese said the trip had multiple advantages.

“It was real important,” he said. “It’s a bonding thing. We get hardcore training and get to spend time with our teammates.”

Frawley agrees that the Florida trip is helpful.

“Florida is highly recommended,” she said. “It benefits you more to go to Florida because you get to practice with the team.”

Padovan agreed that the Florida trip helped, but that more was needed to show good progress.

“The real determination is what they did before Florida,” he said.

Padovan said he was unsure about how well prepared his teams are and that only through the upcoming meets could he make a determination about how the team will do in conference.

But the meet against Millikin should not test the Panthers too much, Senese said.

“Millikin is a weak team,” he said. “I’d go as far to guarantee a win and I don’t usually do that. They just don’t stack up well against us. We’ll beat them with depth alone.”