Western heads into this week’s Sun Belt Swimming and Diving Championships determined to capture titles on both sides for the firs time since 2005.

The championships began Wednesday at Tracy Caulkins Pool in Nashville. The meet will feature a preliminary round each morning followed by finals in the evening for the top eight competitors. Action will conclude Saturday night.

The Lady Toppers are coming off two consecutive Sun Belt championships, and Head Coach Bruce Marchionda said they are capable of adding a third straight title this weekend.

“The girls winning last year gives them confidence heading in,” Marchionda said. “We will need to hold our own in our weaker events, but I feel pretty good on what we’ll be able to do.”

Leading the women’s team is four-time Sun Belt champion Claire Donahue. Donahue, a junior butterflyer, has captured titles in both the 100-yard and 200-yard butterfly races each of the past two seasons and says she hopes to sweep the events for a third time.

Despite the individual success, Donahue stresses the importance of teamwork.

“When it comes to conference, it’s a lot more team oriented,” Donahue said. “One of the things we’re really good at is pulling together as a team.”

For the Toppers to win their first Sun Belt title since 2007, Marchionda said senior freestyler Sean Penhale and a group of freshmen will have to make big contributions.

“We have a really strong nucleus of freshmen,” Marchionda said. “You add that to a strong group of leaders in our senior class — it’s a good combination.”

The men have been led by strong performances from freshmen Billy Kunkel, Luke Musser, Zane Rowland and David Rayner throughout the year, and Marchionda said that bodes well for how they will perform during the most crucial part of the season.

“They’ve been doing well all year, so that’s a good indicator that they’ll do well this week,” he said.

Penhale is seeded first in both the 500-yard freestyle and 1650-yard freestyle, events that he won Sun Belt championships in last season.

He said his strategy to repeat as champion is simply to swim fast and be confident.

“I’ve been training well lately,” Penhale said. “SBCs will be a mental thing for me. I just need to be confident.”

Although swimming is often the main focus in meets, Marchionda said diving could be the key to winning championships for both the men and the women.

“(Divers) are an integral part of us winning. We cannot win without them,” he said.

Marchionda added that the Toppers possess the potential to win the Sun Belt title and have been using last year’s third-place finish as motivation.

“The guys are hungry. They want to bring a championship back to Western,” Marchionda said. “We have some major work to do. The question is ‘Can we get it done?’”