When the men's swimming and diving team started training for its winter season, the roster listed not one Kinsella, but two.
While senior Mike Kinsella has been a consistent performer on the men's swimming team over the last four years, he is no longer the lone Kinsella on the squad, as his brother, freshman Patrick Kinsella joined the team this year.
"Having two brothers on the team is great," coach Adam Hoyt said. "A team is like a family, and having two members of a biological family on the team will make for an even closer family feeling amongst team members - especially these two brothers. They are close and care about each other a lot. They are also full of energy, which brings something special to our team."
"I have really enjoyed being on the same team as him this year," Patrick Kinsella said. "It's just been great to have him there to help me with getting used to college, and he has always been a great guy and a great friend."
The Kinsellas hail from a family of athletes: their father was part of the gold-medal-winning 800 freestyle relay team at the 1972 summer Olympics, and their older brother Chris swam for two years at Colgate University before joining the crew team and rowing on the heavyweight eight boat. Their younger sister Mollie has not followed the swimming trend, instead employing her 6'2" height to her advantage as a junior co-captain of her team high school team, in addition to throwing shot put for her track team.
Coming from a family bursting with athletes has benefited both the boys, as they have trained and competed with each other for years.
"I think it's nice that my dad and brother swam," Mike Kinsella said. "They can really understand the depths of the challenges we face and the pressure we put on ourselves as well as the intense grind of the training we go through with the team. Our dad has never coached me formally, but he does give his encouragement and support in every way he can by talking to us about our swimming and coming to as many meets as he can."
While the two brothers swim on the same team, they have primarily competed in different events this season. Mike Kinsella has taken on the role of sprinter, swimming the 50-yard freestyle, as well as a leg of the 200 medley relay and part of the 400 freestyle relay, finishing fourth in this season's NESCAC meet in the 50 freestyle with a time of 21:22. Additionally, his 200 freestyle relay team finished a mere tenth of a second behind the team from Williams.
"Mike is one of the great leaders on the team," Hoyt said. "He has a confidence about him and makes it clear how much he cares about his teammates. Therefore, many of the guys on the team trust him and I know will miss him next year."
Although the elder Kinsella has competed in a lot of shorter distance events, his brother has taken a different path this season, swimming longer distance events for the Jumbos, including the 200 and 500 freestyle, and the 1650 freestyle at NESCACs. Even though this year marks his first competing in many of these events, he has met a tremendous amount of success.
"It's been incredible to see him step into the distance role this season and really flourish," Mike said. "He's done so ridiculously well in the distance events. That is pretty shocking; he's never swum them before."
With the two brothers swimming different events, there is not a tremendous amount of competition between them during races and meets. Still, the occasional push in practice is quite common, and as is the case with any sibling-rivalry, they never want to lose to each other when facing off in an event.
"They are both extremely competitive individuals," Hoyt said. "But they also want the best for each other and their teammates. It is a great quality that a team can always have more of. While Mike is a sprinter and Patrick is stronger in distance events, they surely push each other in practice and enjoy competing with each other."
"The worst part about swimming with Patrick is that when he beats me, he never lets me forget it," Mike Kinsella said. "You can never afford to lose to your younger brother in anything, not that I ever have."
"I think he has always been the wimpier brother," Patrick Kinsella said with a laugh. "No, seriously though, there has not really been much competition between us. Not in practice or anything."
While every member of the squad considers his teammates to be his brothers, the two Kinsella brothers are truly able to boast family status on their team.
"The best part is just having another friend on the team because we know each other so well," Mike Kinsella said. "I can joke around with him, and he'll know what I'm talking about no matter what."
And while one Kinsella wraps up his career, the other one has only just begun.
"It's definitely going to be worse with him gone next year because he is just awesome to have around," Patrick Kinsella said. "All the seniors this year were really a cohesive unit and were really good leaders."
