In an effort to make students and the campus more aware of the team, the Simpson swimming program designed T-shirts with a clever slogan: “Just Stroke It.”

Senior Sarah Lauterbach was in charge of the T-shirt design this year.

“I made the final decision on the design,” Lauterbach said. “I asked the team what they wanted and went on a consensus.”

The team does not always have the final say in the designs.

“We’ve done it both ways in the past,” women’s swimming coach Mark Corley said. “There are times when I have a say in the design and times when it’s left up to the team.”

The T-shirts have been an activity the swim team has participated in for the past three years.

“We thought it was fun,” Lauterbach said. “It gets the swim team out there more since we don’t have many meets here on campus.”

According to Corley, this is the first year the team has used the program as a fund raiser.

“We’ve talked about it in the past, but we’ve never had enough time,” Lauterbach said.

Whether the shirts are used for a fund raiser or not, there is at least one regulation that must be followed.

“If you use Storm, you must use the official logo,” Lauterbach said. “I’m not really sure about any other regulations that need to be met.”

Corley said that the team font must also be used in the design of the shirts.

The swimming T-shirts are not the only ones floating around campus.

The Storm-Dutch rivalry in football always produces popular T-shirts.

Designs over the past few years have included the Wheel of Fortune and the question “Can I buy a vowel?” or clashing football helmets on the front of one shirt with the back explaining intolerance of a certain Dutch culture. There is also the more toned down “FTD” abbreviation T-shirt.

According to football coach Jay Niemann, neither he nor any part of the team has any say in the designs.

“Kids are just going out and doing it on their own,” Niemann said. “We’re not involved with it at all.”

Niemann doesn’t support the shirts.

“They show no respect toward the football team or the athletic department,” Niemann said. “We discourage them, but we have no control over it.”

The content may be questionable, they provide team recognition.

“It makes the campus more aware of the team,” Lauterbach said.