In Perry State Park in the middle of September, various University of Kansas chants and cheers permeated throughout the otherwise serene wilderness.

The voices behind these cheers were the members of the 2009-2010 Kansas Jayhawk swimming and diving team on a camping trip organized by the team captains: seniors Carrah Haley and Meghan Proehl, and junior Joy Bunting. On the trip, the captains taught all of the new recruits the pre-game rituals and chants of the swimming and diving team.

“I think after the camping trip we all seemed a little more cohesive,” Bunting says.

The captains have made the team cohesiveness one of their overarching goals for the season, which officially started last Friday at the Big 12 Relays in Columbia, Mo. The team finished fourth at the meet.

The topic of team unity continually surfaced in weekly phone conversations between Haley, Proehl, and Bunting during the summer following their selection as team captains last year.

“We want to focus on motivating the team, enhancing the team flow, and really getting everyone on board and working hard all year,” Haley says.

The camping trip was just the first of many team and leadership-building activities organized by the captains. The trio encouraged everyone on the team to bring in a picture of someone extremely close to them and talk about the impact the person has had on their lives.

“It’s really neat to see where people come from and see what kind of struggles they’ve overcome in their lives,” Proehl says.

The captains hope that inter-team cliques will break down and everyone will come closer together as the various team-building activities continue. This kind of familiarity among the members of the team would not be as attainable without the measures the captains have taken.

“When you’re swimming and diving you don’t really get to have real intimate conversations with each other,” Proehl says.

Swimmers and divers staying after practice to work on drills has also improved the overall camaraderie on the team.

“It takes a lot for somebody to ask for help,” Haley says. “It says a lot about our team and shows that we have each other’s backs.”

One of the biggest successes of captains Bunting, Haley, and Proehl has been their vocal leadership. The captains’ ability to lead vocally primarily revolves around the support and inspiration they give their teammates both in and out of the pool.

“They have been absolutely awesome,” Campbell says. “We haven’t had that level of vocal leadership in quite a while.”

Proehl, Haley, and Bunting weren’t able to immediately step into that vocal leadership role because it took them time to find the ideal mix of encouragement and motivation. As the season continues tomorrow with a meet against Florida and Arkansas, though, the captains have all but mastered this ability and surpassed several expectations along the way.

By leading through example, as well as leading vocally, the captains have been able to further distinguish themselves from past captains and increase the unity on the team.

“Now I’ll be the first one to step up and do a new dive,” Proehl says. “Showing everyone else what it takes to get up there and have the guts to do it.”

The level of leadership the captains have been able to bring has greatly aided the trio in accomplishing their top priority of team cohesiveness by encouraging others to step into leadership roles as well.

“It carries over into other aspects of practices,” Proehl says. “We try to let everybody know that just because we have the label of captains doesn’t really mean that we’re the only leaders.”

The captains believe that this has been instrumental in bringing the team together and getting everyone to hold each other accountable throughout their preparation for the season.

“The team is great,” freshman swimmer Madi Landi says. “Everyone gets along and are really supportive of each other.”

All of these measures taken by the captains have already started to pay dividends. At the Big 12 Relays last Friday, several swimmers were out with sickness and many of the new swimmers stepped up and helped the Jayhawks stay competitive.

Specifically, freshman Brooke Brull teamed up with Bunting, junior Iuliia Kuzhil, and senior Erin Goetz to take a team-high third place in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:45.35.

Also, freshman Lindsey Legako helped Kansas earn fourth place finishes in both the 3x100 yard breaststroke relay and the 100-yard freestyle relay.

“It was good to see some people take advantage of opportunities,” Campbell said.