Student-athletes often have to sacrifice personal time in order to train and perform at the highest possible level.

Whether it be missing sleep, spending a little less time with friends, or simply not having time to just sit down and relax, athletes must give up some of there daily comforts in order to do what is best for their team.

Nowhere is this more evident than the Eastern swim team, where training first thing in the morning is a regular routine.

At, six o’clock in the morning, while most students are drooling on their pillows, the men and women’s swim teams are jumping into the pool, doing laps, and preparing for their next swim meets.

Though the timing of the early morning practices may be tough, the Eastern swimmers feel it is worth it if it means performing well, and that it is not as bad as people make it out to be.

“Its pretty tough waking up that early sometimes, but it’s worth the work,” said senior freestyle swimmer Lauren Zillmer.

Some swimmers, such as junior freestyle specialist Tim Mathieu feel that the hardest part isn’t the actual training, but just working up the strength to get out of bed and jump in the pool.

“The 6 a.m.’s aren’t too bad,” Matheiu said. “The hardest part is just getting up and getting in the water.”

After years of getting up early for swim practice, it may not be as difficult for the swimmers to get up for training anymore, but that does not necessarily mean that the practices do not take a toll on their schoolwork.

“Waking up that early makes it hard to stay awake in class sometimes,” Matheiu said.

Though it is tough, the athletes have found out over the years that it is not impossible to achieve success both in the pool and in the classrooms.

“Sometimes it gets pretty busy with practice and schoolwork, but it’s pretty easy to manage,” Zillmer said.

Only three meets into the season, the swim team has a lot of 6 a.m. practices to look forward to. The bright side is that the intense training the swimmers go through seems to be paying off.

With both the men and women squads coming out with wins against Saint Louis University, Eastern swimming looks as though it is headed in the right direction.

The Panthers are now training for their next meet, which will take place at 5 p.m. Friday against Ball State in Muncie, Ind.

Kevin Maras can be reached at 581-7944 or kjmaras@eiu.edu.