The New York Yankees baseball team has won 25 World Series Championships, but there is another dynasty – an Ohio State sports team that is quickly approaching 25 of its own championships.

The OSU version of the Bronx Bombers is the synchronized swimming team, which has won 23 of the last 27 U.S. Collegiate National Championships. The squad is looking for its fifth consecutive championship this year.

“We’re always fortunate because we’ve won so many championships to recruit really good athletes,” said OSU coach Linda Witter. “Sometimes it’s tough to re-invent the wheel. You always have to be bigger and better and stronger, so we try to figure that out.”

Twenty letter winners returned to the squad from last season. Ten of them are juniors, while only one is a senior.

“It’s tough, but they all know what they need to do,” Witter said. “They know they have to kick it up a couple of notches, and they rise to the occasion.”

Juniors Heather Burdick, Lauren Marsh and Lindsay Newbill return to the squad after they were selected as All-Americans in 2003.

“They’re the heart of the team; they are the quiet leaders,” Witter said. “They are the ones who really don’t say something unless it needs to be said, and when they say it, people listen.”

The team recruited seven freshmen this season. Becky Kim and Kate Hooven of the U.S. Duet National Team II highlight the freshman class. Both came from the same club team in Walnut Creek, Calif.

“We have a really good group of freshmen here,” Kim said. “I think that we can set very good examples for all the other teammates.”

Two members from last season who are not swimming, but both of whom still have a role with the squad, are last year’s senior All-Americans Victoria Bowen and Suzanna Hyatt. Bowen, last year’s female Big Ten Medal of Honor winner, is a student-coach. Medal finalist Hyatt is the team’s manager.

“Since they’ve (been) gone, we have a lot of new talent on the team, and we work as a team really well together,” Hooven said. “I think with their loss we can make that up.”

In their third meet of the season, the Buckeyes took first place atop a seven-team field in the OSU College Association Meet Saturday in Larkins Hall. The team improved its undefeated record to 7-0. The squad beat its second-place opponent by 13 points.

Hooven and Kim won the duet competition. The two and Newbill won the trio event.

“We (Kim and I) haven’t done a trio since we were 12, so she’s (Newbill) been really great and blends really well with us,” Hooven said.

OSU won the Florida and Keuka College-Michigan meets this season. The team defeated Keuka College by 26 points and Michigan by 32.5 points.

OSU will travel to Richmond, Va., for the Richmond meet Saturday. Then the team will have three more meets before the U.S. Collegiate National Championships in Ann Arbor, Mich., on March 25-27.

“We’re really trying hard to work together and be national champions again,” Kim said.