WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — The Howard swimming and diving program is hoping to repeat the success they had last year when the men’s program won the Northeast Conference title and the women finished third.

With the Battle at the Burr II set for this weekend with Georgetown University, the Bison are hoping to start things off on the right foot.

“It’s going to be another great, great swim meet and we think this one for sure is going to exceed what we were able to do last year”, Howard head coach Nic Askew said. “We came up shot last year on the men’s and women’s side. And our team, you know, as usual, they didn’t like that so well. So we are hoping to battle it out even more this year. And the “W” will go on the Howard side”.

While the Bison came up short to start last season, both the men and the women were on a magical ride to the top all year long. The program made not just local news, but national headlines.

“We are so happy to see this type of spotlight in a positive way being shined and so many others benefitting from it”, said Askew. “I think that’s probably even the bigger thing. The impact it’s making in the world”.

Howard is the only HBCU with a swimming and diving team, and they didn’t just talk the talk last season, they walked the walk.

The men’s team simply dominated the conference tournament by posting 928 points during the five-day meet. The runner-up, Long Island University, finished with 759 points. “We set the tone with the opening relays. I think at that point we truly realized we got this”, Askew said.

With the question coming into this year being, can they repeat? Coach Askew answered, “No Pressure”.

On the women’s side, they finished third last season, but they were picked to finished 7th in the preseason, exceeding expectations.

“I think third is a nice safe space to be, but don’t count us out for contention for the title on the women’s side”, Askew said. “They are hungry. They saw what it looks like by being right there with the men”.

And if you thought Howard swimming was feeling the pressure of last year, Askew responded by saying, “One is nice, two is nicer. Jobs not done”.

The Battle at the Burr will get started Saturday afternoon at Burr Gymnasium over at Howard, beginning at 2pm.